TECHNICAL TROUBLE!

 I have no idea what was going on, but I had no ability to log on to the internet for a few days.  Anyway, whatever the problem was, it seems to have healed itself.   

I found a new drawing book  "Just Draw It" by Sam Piyasena and Beverly Philp  published by Barron's that has lots of fun ideas, some of which I had not come across before.  Actually, what sold me on the book was a drawing on the first page inside the book.  When I got home and had a chance to sit down and really study the book, that exercise wasn't even in the book!!!!!  It was from someone's sketchbook and there was no actual exercise in the book.  It was a face drawn totally in pen with cross hatched planes.  I was inspired!  I did a few drawings with this style, loved the results, then decided to create a painting of cross hatched lines.  I wanted to create my own "brush" for the project, so I went looking for an old fashioned straw whisk broom.  Funny how you don't think about how materials have been phased out over time until you go looking.  There is very little to no natural straw brooms left!  I found a synthetic brush that had soft, frayed tips that I thought would hold the ink.  I cut some of the strands, stuck them down to a long, thin, piece of cardboard with double stick mounting tape.  I put another piece of the tape on top of the strands, then folded the bottom of the cardboard up and bound the whole thing with masking tape.  I used Acrylic inks in various colors and went to town.  The surface is an old painting on Tyvek covered with gesso that I stamped into.  I am not totally happy with the result but I think the process has potential and I will try it again.