Two faces

I finished these two drawings yesterday, using a bic pen over paper.
Right now, I find myself in a place with very dry air and I think that's something that has assisted me a little bit in achieving this smoothness.

For this first drawing, the words "Terráqueo Facial" work as a title of sorts. Looking at her there's something of a globe, with the landscapes and divisions, so her face reminds me of a globe.



This second one started out as a note for a dream that I remembered, it had none of the swirls, no facial features, no mouth, no nose. I just wanted to recreate the pose in the dream and something specific that was happening and once that was out of my head, I decided to make her into almost exactly what you see here, specially the swirly things on her hair.
To me, she's kind of an illustration of a story. Or like the when the first letter of a story that is very ornately illustrated and decorated, or a mixture of both.


Also, something of an update on my page in Facebook, I have now made the handle into this: www.facebook.com/ArteGabrielaHandal, so now it's even easier to share! So, don't you forget to like it and share it with your friends: Gabriela Handal Arte

Literature

There's something about literature sometimes.
Between yesterday and today, I had an urge to illustrate a book that I've read three times and I'm in the middle of reading it a fourth time. It's a book by Javier Medina Bernal, titled "Hemos caminado siglos esta madrugada", it sits between my elbows as I type down this entry.
Sometimes it just sits on my drawing table, other times it sits on my night table, before I picked it up yesterday to read it, I hadn't touched it or thought of it for days. Somehow the book courts me and we are having an affair.

It's a small book, it's short and thin, with thin and white pages, the paperback is red. The title by default gets me, when night falls (the few times that I've stayed up late or all night) time seems to stop completely.
The orange streetlights, the stars and the moon if she's out make everything seem like a dream. And there is a dreamlike quality in what's written within the book.

For a reason that is unknown to me, I decided to draw on the book. I guess because the words are scattered across the pages, as poetry sometimes is and several pages are almost entirely white, with not more than ten words on them.

So today, I show off two drawings that I've made between yesterday and today and the passages on them.

On these two pages we have:
"Colonia mía, esclava mía,
guardiana y
verdugo,
condenada y niña libre mía y
sólo mía,
emergen de tu pecho raras señales de miedo
y lágrimas.
Todo se junta.
Todo.
O sea, las cosas se abalanzan desde frentes varios,
traen estallido y grito,
bolsas llenas de hormigas"

I've read this specific passage approximately one million times, because I freaking love it: "Semejante reflexión debió haber sido lo suficientemente llana para darme cuenta de mi destino de eterno solitario rodeado de faldas, debí advertir pieles desnudas, rupturas, inconformidades, hijos por doquier, pensiones alimenticias, abandonos, lágrimas, cuerpos jadeantes, decepciones, bofetadas, promesas rotas, hogares rotos, ojos rotos"


So, this tiny little thing, with fragile white pages, thin red paperback has stolen my attention from a lot of work that I'm supposed to be doing, work that is waiting patiently for me to finish it. In an impulse yesterday, I decided to draw on the book. Maybe I'm using it as an excuse to put off work, but like my man Trent sings: "you know me, I can't help myself".

Javier has a website: Javier Medina Bernal. He also happens to write and make gorgeous music.

And don't forget my page, either: Gabriela Handal

Experiment

This is the second time that I experiment with using the remainders of carton that I've used to frame drawings, to make new and irregular frames.
This is the first one


This second one, I really like how it turned out, as well. Maybe even more.
In this case, it's even more of an experiment, because I didn't use any additional paper to protect the back of the drawing and I didn't use any tape on the back of the supporting paper. The drawing is basically, being held by the pieces of carton, it's kind of floating in there. And, in the back, my business card. I'm going to have this at work tomorrow, for sale at ten dollars.


So, thank you for reading, this is all for now! Please don't forget to like my Facebook page and share it with your friends: Gabriela Handal Arte
See you next time!

Eyes and eyes

Usually, when I draw something, I will start with an eye. I don't know why this is and I don't question it. The few other times when I don't draw an eye, it's when I do the abstracts in which the exercise is to not draw anything.

Sometime last week, I think, I found some small canvases and I decided to put them to good use and make some very quick and simple eye paintings on the with acrylic paint. And I did one with black and another one in blue and black.
These are them:
And between yesterday and today, I produced these smaller two, in more color. It's also acrylic paint on canvas.
For these, I did not allow myself to use black, not even for the pupil, as I usually do and I had the objective of only using primary colors to work with, so all the colors you see there are mixed from blue, red and yellow. I did allow myself the use of white. I like the spattered and watery look of these two, how around the eyes it's sketchy and as it goes nearer the pupil, stuff is kind of more neat, with finer brushstrokes.
Specifically, the one with the red iris, because on that one I purposely left part of the canvas in white. I remember there's this artist, whose name I don't remember, I saw a painting of his, where the canvas is only half painted with some very rough brushstrokes where the canvas begins to get white and the portrait very neatly painted.

It was very very challenging and somewhat frustrating, but only because acrylic still dries out so fast for me.
I have to say though, I'm working much better with acrylic paint, I've found myself WANTING to use it and turning to it, when I want to paint something quickly.
So these little paintings, I think are something of a study, the first two a study of acrylic paint in general and the second two, a study of acrylic paint and color.
This is all for now, remember to like my Facebook page and share it with your friends: Gabriela Handal Arte
Thank you <3

Dracula Vampira again.

I want to show off another progress shot of "Dracula Vampira", just 'cuz I really like how she's looking.
I would like to reiterate that I started her sometime last year, after I returned from Conexión Drácula, an artistic residency here in Panama. I had an image of her, as the residency came to an end, I think, but I was really iffy about what medium to paint her in.
I had started out with watercolors, because I'm usually more comfortable with them, but in the last couple of months, I've really gone in with acrylic paints, specially when I painted that cartoon portrait of Trent. Here's the entry: A Demon Possessed. I painted it with acrylics, because they dry so fast.
I'm actually really glad that I'm beginning to work with them, they're clearly a super versatile medium, but they require a lot of learning. At least, for me, because they dry so fast, I'm so used to being really comfortable with how slowly the oil paints dry and the nice degradations and blendings I can make with them.

So, yeah, here's a progress shot.

I was trying to work with some colored pencils yesterday, because I feel like I have more control with that; but I've kept working with acrylic paints, trying to tread carefully.

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