A Graphite Pencil Drawing: a Haiku – Haiga

*Graphite pencil drawing, with a small poem – a haiku.

I drew this quite a few years back, probably with a flurry..in a hurry; which was often the case, in a household with four young sons.(Young men now) I used a watercolour graphite pencil. Just a little water brushed on the line work, creates lovely grey washes.

Today, as I looked at this drawing, tacked up in my kitchen; it just seemed to gel with some of my thoughts and feelings…which then percolated and brewed the small poem – a haiku. Is it a self portrait? Not really, probably elements of me…I talk more about that in “About Drawing Faces”.

Gathering ideas for a poem or picture can be quite a mysterious process sometimes!

I took the drawing down, added a teeny bit more pencil around the eyes and the symbol of the cross. I resisted the urge to remove some of the squiggly lines near the nose and eyes….and other squiggly lines. Even years later, it’s difficult to know when an artwork is finished!

With the “Scanner Pro” app I scanned it into my iPad. I then imported it from “Photos”, into the”Tayasui Sketches” app, where I used a gentle wash of white paint around the edges.

I wanted to bring it together – in form and feeling – with my haiku, to create a haiga. So next I took it into “Phonto” and typed in the text. I think it worked out alright; I quite like the sepia tone that’s crept in…I’ll print it out soon; it’ll be interesting to see it tacked up beside the original drawing.

A blessed day to all of you. 🙂