There were two lessons last week for Life Book, one taken by Whitney Freya and one by Samie Harding. There was absolutely no way I was going to find time to tackle two different lessons. I thought I would choose to work on the one that appealed most to me but, in actual fact, neither really chimed with me enough to stand out. One was abstract and one was very “art therapy” in its approach and neither of those things really inspires my creativity. I almost decided not to work on Life Book for the second week in a row but then I had an idea: I could combine the lessons. I could use some of the approaches from the abstract lesson to create a background and could use the concept of a totem animal from the other lesson as a jumping off point for the subject matter. Of course, being me, I had to put my own twist on things and – as such – I turned my bear into a silhouette contain a skeleton. You wouldn’t know it to look at it, but I did have a quick google to have a photo reference for the bear’s skull. I actually had a lot of fun creating this painting so I am glad I found the mojo and the time to actually work on Life Book after all.
A Pict in PA 
I love this skeleton bear, his little hands and his neatly meshing teeth. And the background colors and design nicely set him off. A winner, I think.
Thanks, Claudia. It’s a bit goofy and whimsical but I do enjoy drawing inaccurate skeletons so I just go with what my creative heart desires.
I love these figures you do and I think there is more to them than goofy or whimsical; they could just be “cute”, but you find a way to go beyond that. They have humor but are edgy, too.
Thank you. I think they tap into the same part of me that loves to draw zombies.
The bright background (which of course I love) offsets that wry skeleton bear extremely well. Interesting juxtaposition.
Thank you. The juxtaposition largely arose because I was forcing two different lessons together but I think it worked out in the end.
As always, you made an excellent interpretation of the prompts. The skeleton bear actually makes me smile, but your background is the best. I struggle so much with backgrounds to I enjoy your inspiration.
I struggle with backgrounds too. I don’t even tend to do any when I’m drawing with ink, maybe just a quick wash of colour and that’s it. So painting backgrounds has been one of my learning curves