Concretizing Abstract

Mama taught me before to use pencils to draw. Whatever mistakes I would make, I could easily remove it with an eraser. When I discovered sign pens in high school, I overlaid my pencil-drawings with ink. Ballpoint pens are good tool for drawing because you can’t always leave to the house without it. Only, once you commit a mistake, you have to find ways to save your work or start all over again with a clean paper.

Inks have found niche in Chinese and Japanese art, specifically in calligraphy. They used brushes and specialized applicators such as bamboo quills. The ink they used are not the same type we used on pens. It is a special type of ink, sold in National Bookstore or Metro as Chinese ink.

Considering the drill my mother taught me, ink-drawing is a challenge to me. When I had dabbled on this in my art class, my most likely theme is abstract. I can just whisk an ink here and there using the bamboo quills. Unfortunately, I have never been a fan of abstract drawing.

I have great respect for abstract artists but my obsessive-compulsive side just refused to lose control. To my credit, I did try and here are the results.

A poor attempt of abstracting volcanic eruption that looks like a party at the tip of the crater instead.

Or something that lies in the chemistry realm, abstracting chemists. Unfortunately, they look more like ghosts to me.

Indeed, I am not good with harmonizing lines to generate abstract beauty. But before, I left my art class that night, I finally came up with this.

Not bad after how many takes I made.