Red Hood

Today is my birthday and I decided to do something for ME! No estate items, bills, worrying about stuff that needs to be accomplished. It’s my day and I spent it working on a charcoal drawing I’ve wanted to do for years. Oh yes, it does involve a dog. Back in 2007, I took a trip to Amsterdam and Scotland with Dave and my father. Quite the epic journey & I won’t go into detail. While on the ferry from Oban to Mull (west coast of Scotland), we met a fabulous family (with their spaniel) heading to the island for holiday. It was late October, very grey, and windy. Their youngest child was sitting on one of those plastic molded deck chairs with her sweet dog buddy. I managed to snap a picture.

Today, I ran across the image and decided it was time do something about it. The start of the drawing is a bit clunky, but I think you can get the idea of where I’m heading. Dog head needs to increase in size before really starting in plus the child’s head is still needing work. My friend Rosie always complains about drawing the alien heads of children. She is so spot on with how difficult it is! I’ve not come close to attempting one for years. Up til now, I’ve chosen not to do much with human figures, but that might be changing. I really want to accomplish some sort of series of dog/people interactions. Prints and charcoal are probably going to be the medium choice. We will see where this leads.

What did I use? A full sheet of Rives BFK plus vine and compressed charcoal.