GiGi... A Puppy Portrait!

A Puppy Portrait!

Here's a portrait of the great dane that stayed with us throughout the holidays. For a big dog, she was quite placid and docile. Her demeanor made it easy to capture her. She was a real poser, but she seemed to always plop right down in a high traffic area of the house. Wherever she sprawled out to take a nap, she covered the entire floor.

This sketch took me about twenty minutes to complete, but I faked about half of it!

Copyright 2012/Ben Bensen III

G.G. or Gigi, our "Gentle Giant"

Gigi, our undernourished holiday visitor...

Early in the morning, five days ago, as I drove pass outside of my driveway, I noticed three tiny, rather forlorn looking kittens seated right at the corner of our street. I am not much of a cat person, but little animals like these kitties would be an easy target from the air by hawks, an easy meal by any predator on foot. One kitty was all black while the other one was kind of a mix of black and white. The third kitty was all gray with blue eyes.

I drove away wondering what the hell those animals were doing on our corner. It then dawned on me that it was on that same corner, last Thanksgiving weekend, that a big, black, two year old great dane came into our lives, and that reminded me that I had done some sketches of the dog we called GiGi. Apparently, she ate someone out of house and home and was dropped off in our subdivision before the dog also ate their car! When we finally accepted her advances into our lives, we noticed she was quite malnourished.

 We later found a home for her, but by Christmas our friend decided she was just too big for his home. We understood perfectly because she was big... for any house. So, she stayed for Christmas and ate up all our mints, cellophane paper and all.

 Here's one of the sketches I did while GiGi stayed with us. She was a great model to draw from, a real poser. I did her head first because, for about ten minutes, it was the only thing that moved. It seemed such a struggle to move those big, long legs to get up only to plop back down again somewhere else. She only got up and moved when my wife needed to pass.

As for the kitties, our next door neighbor, who have two teenage kids, were able to round up the black one, the black and white one and the gray one with the blue eyes and were reunited with their other three siblings which the kids had rescued and kept in the garage. All tolled, someone just dropped off six kittens to fend for themselves, but now, we are sure that they will have a nicer place to stay.

Copyright 2012/ Ben Bensen III

Silouetted ShoeShine...

Loved the silouetted feel of this sketch, but...

I stood up with my back up against the wall of an airport newsstand and attempted to record this cool, silouetted shot. The shoeshine boys were rather diminutive Orientals just going to town on these guys shoes. The man on the right was a military man wearing a camo outfit while the one on the left looked like a airline pilot. I guess both professions demand shiny shoes and I think, from the effort of these "shoeshine boys," they were getting their money's worth.

This would make a great painting... in my mind and maybe, in reality... down the line! Still, this sketch leaves much to be desired... as a sketch!

Copyright 2012/ Ben Bensen III

The Eye to Brain to Hand...

Waitin' for a plane...

I had an hour and a half layover in Houston and I felt I owed it to myself to practice, but seriously, I wasn't really into it and it shows. Naturally, the three in line moved many times, so I had to improvise. The sketch was quick. I added the linear tone to separate the foreground from the background. I loved the visual that presented itself, but I should've just shot a picture for analysis later.

It is strange. Sometimes, I can draw beautifully totally detached, meaning, I don't think about what I see and interpret it emotionally. At times, it works perfectly to my satisfaction, but other times, it doesn't. When I am totally focused on my drawing, I almost always like what I've drawn, but I have to incorporate more than my visual and emotional response...

I have to think about every little line I draw and that's exhausting to do over the period of one or two sketches.

Anyway, the plane looks good, ha!

Copyright 2012/ Ben Bensen III

"Turbulent Stewardess"... Number Two!

Yeh, I thought about "fixin' it in Photoshop...

Another turbulent sketch flying from Houston to New Orleans. It was bumpy, but this time, I was actually seated. Sometimes, ya gotta know when to fold 'em!

I should have "folded them" two minutes after I started, ha!

*Copyright 2012/ Ben Bensen III

* Actually, this really isn't worth copyrighting, but there's no judging for taste!

"Turbulent Stewardess"... Number One!

One of two sketches I blame the turbulence on, ha!

I stood up and pretended I was waiting in a non-existent line for the restroom. When it started to get "bouncy", the flight attendant asked me to return to my seat. This is what I came up with while standing.

Actually, that is not totally true.

When I sat down I attempted to "fix it' and only made it worse. Ink pens are so unforgiving, ha!

Copyright 2012/ Ben Bensen III