Floral Wind: Haiga

petals fall
across this rolling sea
a floral wind

Altered Image
Sketchbook Ink Drawing
Photoshop Elements 6
Wacom Cintiq
7.5 x 7.5

This Haiku/Haiga is for a Two Word Challenge. The two words to be used were Floral Wind.

The Cintiq is now working closer to the way I think it should. I can work around the issue at this point. It's fun. I'd still like to get it functioning as I know it can...

Prayer Flag and Process (Non-Traditional)

The first step in my Prayer Flag was cutting/tearing the material. The ragged edges are intentional. Prayer Flags are intended to be exposed to the elements of the earth so it is expected that they will fray and shred over time. For this reason Prayer Flag edges are not usually hemmed. It's this weathering process that sends the message of a Prayer Flag out into the world.

The material is about 6 x 9 inches at this point. This is my first "from scratch" Prayer Flag. I decided to experiment with a first time process for me too. I used a water soluble, cloth tacking glue as a resist, drawing a simple design with my intended message directly on the fabric, then letting it dry.

When the tacking glue was dry I mixed acrylic paints with a flexible fabric medium. This medium extends the flexibility of the acrylic paint so that the cloth can move freely without the paint cracking. I painted several color layers over the flag trying to keep the glue from getting too wet because I wanted the glue to remain in place at this point.

When the paint was dry I rinsed out the glue. When the Prayer Flag was again dry I hand stitched a cord channel at the top of the flag by folding down about half an inch of material. Now the flag can be strung up on a cord with other flags and then suspended outside so that the Prayer Flag message can go out into the world.

One thing I hadnt anticipated was how light flows through the lines of the design while being blocked by the acrylic paint. When this happens it's as if the lines are glowing. I like the unexpected effect.

I did 9 Prayer Flags in all. Five flags will soon be swapped out in a Mail Art swap and I'll get Five different Prayer Flags, by different people, back in return.

5 Leaf Drawings; Drawing On Leaves

This is a variation on a project I began several years ago.


Leaping Leaves
Approximately 4 x 6 inches (10 x 15 cm)
These are Signature Tree leaves. Lightly scratching into the surface of the green leaf creates a line that is light in value.



Dropping Spider
Approximately 4 x 6 inches (10 x 15 cm)
One of the reasons I like to keep an image of the leaf at this green stage is because of the good contrast between leaf and line. When dry sometimes the contrast between the leaf and line will remain reasonably distinguished; at other times the lines become quite subtle.



Leaves By The Sea
Approximately 3 x 7 inches (8 x 18 cm)
When dry, leaves range from varying shades of golden tea browns to mid dark value coffee and cream colors. Signature tree leaves are reasonably tough when dry although they may become brittle.



Leaf And Feather
Approximately 5 x 6 inches (13 x 15 cm)
These leaves may become part of a swap I began some time ago.



Laughter Sweeping Leaves
Approximately 4 x 6 inches (10 x 15 cm)
Creating something like these leaves and leaving my name and copyright off the leaf would fit my vision of glamour bombs. I’d then like to leave them in a park or beneath a tree or blowing in the wind.