I would have to admit, as far as a quality drawing, this would not rank in the top half of the work I've done. However, there's something about this little thing that makes me like it. Some background is necessary.

While I was in Florida, I took a walk on the beach one day. I walked for over a mile when I stumbled upon a fishing pole stuck in the sand. I looked around but could find no owner. What I did see were two pelicans and a few small birds standing next to it as if they were the actual fishermen using this pole to catch some lunch. Of course I didn't have my camera.

I went back out the next day, camera in tow this time, but only managed to find a manned fishing pole with pelicans in attendance. I snapped that picture. It's the current POTW if you didn't notice. I couldn't get the original image out of my head so I sat down with my new handy dandy inks and a small hunk of bristle board and started to draw.

I basically drew the water, sand, birds and grass in black outline in about 60 seconds. It looked very dull. I was still in experimentation mode so I didn't care if I completely messed up the drawing. I pulled out the blue ink and filled in the water. It looked ok, but to controlled. So I grabbed some water and a small paintbrush and did a wash on the sky. You can see where I had the water and where I "dotted" the ink. I figured out the proper way to do an ink wash on the right side of the sky. I really figured it out when I grabbed the brown and made the sand.

I signed the thing in the blue ink I still had on the quill and tossed it aside. Funny thing, when I show people the set of drawings I did when I was in Florida, they all like this one the most. Once again confirming my theory that if I hate it, you'll love it.

Actually, I do enjoy this little piece. It came together in less then 10 minutes. I got to play with techniques I don't normally do. It's soft and very alive compared to my normal hard lined abstract stuff. Yep, it's a keeper.