I’ll spare you the daily photo dump of Inktober drawings. I mentioned previously that I’m drawing from photographs of artists. For each artist I have found several photos, where possible over different times of their lives – although some lives were not long at all.

First up is Lee Krasner. These photos are from the book Lee Krasner, Living Colour, Ed. Eleanor Nairne, Thames and Hudson, 2019. It’s a catalogue for the exhibition of the same name. Krasner has such a bold look, with her striking dark hair, that I found it easy to see how that might be translated into a graphic pen and ink drawing.

Day 1, I drew from an early photo of Krasner , so bold a pose and her eyes blocked out by sunglasses.

I ended up doing 4 drawings of Krasner, because I’m playing a lot with different approaches.

Day 2, I used two different approaches.  The first was all line work with blue and sepia ink. The second with a range of inks all applied by brush. As someone who loves watercolour the 2nd approach is the one  feel most comfortable with.

For Day 3, I decided to combine line and wash, given how Irving Penn has photographed Kranser’s face surrounded by the upturned collar of her coat. I wanted to capture the dramatic sweep of the collar but to also suggest it’s textured lining.