This illustration actually started off as a depiction of someone being sucked up in a beam of light. Think UFOs and alien abduction. As the drawing progressed, however, I decided that the figure was actually doing the opposite and was falling. The negative space was, therefore, a tunnel or pit rather than a beam of propulsive light. This was another “short on time” day which necessitated me painting only a single layer of watercolour. As such, the black “tunnel” edges of the composition are very patchy. They would certainly benefit from additional layers of pigment to make the black richer and more dense. As much as that uneven, mottled quality bothers me, I am trying to convince myself that the scrubbiness works to suggest some kind of rough textured surface, such as packed dirt. That’s me attempting to hush my Inner Critic. It has not photographed well but the spatter – used to suggest disturbed debris – is two shades of gold watercolour.
A Pict in PA 
This wasn’t a quick work .All those little lines.
My first thought was falling down a well hole.
The drawing and ink work usually takes me between 10 and 20 minutes and I get through that stage when drinking my morning mug of tea. How much time I can spend on the painting parts of the illustration is where it gets tricky. Some days I am very short on time so I have to keep that bit simple – monochrome, single washes, less intricate shapes – and other days I have a bit more time available so I can add more colours, layers and details. But the drawing part is usually a pretty standard chunk of time because I do that before anyone else is even up and about for the day.
Before breakfast? I don’t do very well before breakfast.
I’ve always been an early bird (maybe because it guaranteed a hot shower growing up) but I get sludgy in the late afternoon as a result and I struggle to stay up late.
You will find me saying “Good night” early and I’m usually up by 5:30 Or so …but I need to eat pretty soon afterwards
A cup of tea is my only breakfast. I have IBS and my stomach does not wake up as early as I do. I instead have “elevenses” of a banana or granola bar later in the morning.
It’s great. I like how you shade the cheeks. Well, if she is falling, then she’s not screaming and freaked out. She seems a bit resigned to the fall. Probably covid shellshock. 😉
Ha ha! Even when I was thinking she was floating, I thought about it as something that had just happened in that instant, that feeling you have when your brain has not quite caught up enough to react.
Kind of escher-esque – she could be falling or being sucked up.
Thank you.
I agree with the above comment, it looks to me she’s in both a state of falling and rising all at once. It great how you accomplished this.
Thank you. Maybe being indecisive was an advantage.
I like the fabric patterns you illustrated. Your drawing makes me think of a modern Alice in Wonderland.
One of my sons made the same comment about it reminding him of Alice. Illustrating bits of Alice in Wonderland is something I have toyed with for years so maybe that was somewhere in my subconscious.