Glimpses of the Deep came about when a mentor of mine asked me to do a solo art show. This was my chance to do my first solo art show, the caveat though, was that it needed to be ready to go in three months. Of course I said yes.
I started by creating rules for myself. Its always easier to create when you have guidelines set in place. In order to complete the series in time I had to use a medium which I have pretty much mastered, the Pilot Precise V5 ink pen. I've been using this brand of pen almost as long as I've been drawing.
The next guideline I made was that the subject matter had to be identifiable to the general public. I've been drawing sea life for longer than I've been drawing with a Pilot pen, so this one made sense to me. My mother had a set of Jacque Cousteau books that I would constantly flip through when I was growing up. I also had a plethora of photos that I and my family took at Shedd Aquarium and the Georgia Aquarium.
Using my Pilot Pen I set out to create sea life pieces. I focused on challenging myself with lighting and creating dark, middle and light tones using an instrument that only produced one shade of black. And I had time constraints. My goal was twelve pieces, but I stopped at ten because I wanted to give myself time to properly frame and mat everything.
Overall it was a wonderful experience for me and it really leveled up my drawing skills and my confidence in my chosen discipline.
