Friday Face OFF -- Portrait Challenge: Emotions

For today's Friday Face OFF link party

of art featuring faces, hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food and Everyday Things --

Nicole's challenge for us this week

is to draw faces portraying one, more, or all

the emotions on her list of prompts.

Coincidentally, I just finished a short

cartooning class earlier this month,

so I decided to illustrate all the prompted emotions

in a typically cartoony over-the-top manner.

Here they are!

I channeled my inner Donald Trump

by using a black Sharpie 

on white paper to do these cartoons.

And speaking of emotions,

it disgusted me to even type that,

but hey -- anything for a joke, eh?

[Art and photos of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2026]

Friday Face OFF -- Snowy Owl

For today's Friday Face OFF link party

of art featuring faces, hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food and Everyday Things --

I was browsing through an old file folder of

photo prompts and found this forgotten

pen-and-ink sketch of a snowy owl

that I did 3 years ago.

It's just done on white bond paper

because I intended to redraw it later 

on watercolour paper and then paint it,

but that hasn't happened yet.

Maybe someday? Who knows?

In the meantime, here it is.

[Art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2023;

Photo of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2026]

Friday Face OFF -- Victoria Sin

For today's Friday Face OFF link party

of art featuring faces, hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food and Everyday Things --

I love the outrageousness of drag performers' looks,

attitudes, and gender challenges. Here's my portrait of

the fabulous Victoria Sin, done in watercolour paint,

watercolour pencils, and black ink pen.

Sin Wai Kin is a non-binary performance artist known for their

immersive use of fantasy and speculative fiction to create worlds

and characters that reflect on language, reality, time, identity, and duality.

Among their many complex characters is Victoria Sin, a classic drag queen.

If you want to hear Sin Wai Kin's thoughts on

Victoria Sin's purpose and significance, here's a short,

quite fascinating video --

[Art and photo of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2026]

Friday Face OFF -- Butter Lamb

For today's Friday Face OFF link party

of art featuring faces, hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food and Everyday Things --

Last weekend I went to a workshop

held at the Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts

and learned how to make a Butter Lamb!

A Butter Lamb is a traditional Slavic Easter decoration.

Made by hand or by using a mold, it is taken to church

to be blessed, nestled in an Easter basket

of other special foods and treats.

Then on Easter, the Butter Lamb becomes the

centrepiece of the festive table and is eaten with

celebratory foods like Paska bread and ham.

The Butter Lamb represents Jesus as the sacrificial

Lamb of God resurrected at Easter, and brings

good fortune and abundance to the household.

So here's my Butter Lamb --

I made it by hand using half a pound of butter, a sharp knife,

and a garlic press to create the "wool." It has two cloves

for eyes and a peppercorn for the nose.

And here's me leaving the workshop with my Lamb --

The Christian holiday of Easter is still

three weeks away but today, March 20th,

marks special holidays in two other

spiritual traditions --

Today is the Spring Equinox, so I wish

Ostara blessings to all my pagan readers!

Welcome Spring!

And today is Eid which marks the end of Ramadan,

so I wish Eid blessings to all my Muslim readers!

Enjoy your feast!

Friday Face OFF -- Rembrandt's "Young Lion Resting"

For today's Friday Face OFF link party

of art featuring faces, hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food and Everyday Things --

Last month, blogging buddy Jim of The Road to Parnassus 

emailed me a copy of Rembrandt's drawing entitled

"Young Lion Resting" and suggested I might want

to try my hand at drawing it. 

The original was about to be auctioned at Sotheby's

with all net proceeds being donated to

Panthera, a charitable organization devoted to

conservation of the world's 40 species of

wild cats and their ecosystems.

At the beginning of February, it sold for $17.9 million USD,

setting a new record for a drawing by Rembrandt.

For me, the most intriguing part of the drawing

is the young lion's head, so I cropped the photo

and made that my subject.

Here's my version -- I'm pleased with

the drawing itself, but less so with my

light and shadow work.

[Freehand drawing on brown kraft paper

done directly in black ink pen, white ink pen,

and black ink wash with brush]

The one thing I'm certain of, though,

is that no one is going to give ME 

$17.9 million for it, hahahahahaha!

[Art & photo of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2026]

Friday Face OFF -- Silhouette Cats

For today's Friday Face OFF link party

of art featuring faces, hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food, Gardening blog . . .

Before I did last week's light-and-shadow portrait

of the Winter Soldier, I wanted to test

my newly acquired white ink pens and

see how they were to work with.

I had a couple of photos of back-lit kitties

in my photo reference file, so I drew them first.

They were fun and pretty quick to do!

[Freehand drawing on

black Stonehenge paper

done directly in white ink pen]

[Art and photos of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2026]

Friday Face OFF -- Portrait Challenge: The Winter Soldier

For today's Friday Face OFF link party

of art featuring faces, hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food, Gardening blog . . .

Nicole's challenge for us this week is

to do a portrait of our own choosing and 

accompany it with the photo on which it is based.

So here's my portrait of

Bucky Barnes the Winter Soldier,

drawn freehand directly in white ink pen

on black Stonehenge paper.

I am very pleased (and relieved)

that this turned out so well.

It's based on this promotional poster by Marvel Studios

for its recent superhero movie Thunderbolts* --

Incidentally, if you haven't seen Thunderbolts* yet,

it's a good movie! The point of its superhero plot

is to explore mental health issues and the

emotional fallout of trauma, guilt, shame and loss.

[Art and photo of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2026]

Friday Face OFF -- Friendly Neighbourhood Camel

For today's Friday Face OFF link party

of art featuring faces, hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food, Gardening blog . . .

Here's that camel drawing

I was working on a couple of weeks ago,

as some of you spotted in a previous post's photo --

A face only a mother could love!

[Freehand drawing on brown kraft paper

done directly in black ink pen, white ink pen,

and black ink wash with brush]

I drew it from this internet meme --

If I were doing it again, I don't think I would use

all that white ink on the camel's muzzle.

I got carried away and overdid it.

But at least it got me back in the swing of drawing again!

[Art, photo of art, and photo #1 ©

Debra She Who Seeks, 2026]

Friday Face OFF -- "Self-Portrait"

For today's Friday Face OFF link party

of art featuring faces, hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food, Gardening blog . . .

Our challenge this week?

Do a self-portrait and accompany it

with the photo on which it is based.

So here I am 

swimming with dolphins

on the Mayan Riviera in Mexico!

(20 years ago)

[Direct-to-paper freehand sketch

done in water-soluble ink and gouache]

I wrote about my swim with the dolphins here,

if you want to read an account of it.

* * * * * * * *

And okay, I know you people,

so I do not want to read

any comments about my

"threesome with the dolphins."

Despite the kissing, it was

PURELY PLATONIC!

[Art and photo of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2025]

Thursday Art Date With Rain -- "Hanging Out"

Here's my contribution for this week's

 Thursday Art Date With Rain --

Café La Reine (Queen Café) in Edmonton's

small French quarter is a favourite place

of mine to hang out for brunch or coffee.

Its neon wall sign means "thirst for life"

(an appropriate double entendre for a coffee place!)

But my favourite beverage order

here is not coffee, but chai latte --

sooooooo delicious!

And I enjoy their Eggs Benny too!

Speaking of which . . . .

Here's a direct-to-paper continuous line drawing

I did last summer in permanent ink and watercolour,

complete with an oh-so-trendy ink splatter flourish.

I really overdid it on the size of the cutlery, didn't I?

Oh well, that's the hazard of not being able

to erase or correct anything, LOL!

[Photos # 1, 2, 4 © Debra She Who Seeks, 2025;

Photo #3, art and photo of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2024]

Thursday Art Date With Rain -- "Fog"

Here's my contribution for this week's

 Thursday Art Date With Rain --

While I appreciate looking at picturesque scenery

as much as the next person, I don't enjoy

doing landscapes in art. It just doesn't capture

my interest or imagination like portraits and figures do.

Consequently, I rarely post any landscapes

of mine since they all look pretty uninspired.

But I actually do like this one from a 

watercolour class last year, so here it is.

Just pretend some of that atmospheric stuff

hanging around/above the shoreline is fog, okay?

I'm not really sure what the hell it's supposed to be.

[Artwork © Debra She Who Seeks, 2024]

Friday Face OFF -- "Monk"

For this week's Friday Face OFF link party

of art featuring faces, hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food, Gardening blog . . .

In 1974 when I was in high school,

I sketched this monk's head in blue pen

on a little pad of pink newsprint.

I copied it from an original 17th century

Italian drawing which was part of

a small touring art exhibition

at a local community art gallery.

I was so taken by the original that

I had to try drawing it myself while

I stood in front of it. I hadn't come

prepared to do so, which is why my

art supplies were so unorthodox.

The artist was an Italian Baroque painter

named Guido Reni (1575-1642).

I think his best painting is

Saint Matthew and the Angel

which he painted near the end of his life.

I love the rapt intensity of Saint Matthew's face

and his direct eye contact with the angel who is

telling him the points he should cover in his gospel.

It's a very intimate depiction of the process of inspired creation.

And I like the triple illumination of

brilliant white light on Matthew's hair,

the angel's shoulder, and the manuscript.

It evokes the doctrine of the Trinity, I think.

I also like the warm spotlight on the saint's heart.

Friday Face OFF -- Ida B. Wells

For this week's Friday Face OFF link party

of art featuring faces, hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food, Gardening blog . . .

This portrait is another one of

my quick freehand sketches

done directly in water soluble ink

and then painted via ink wash.

Ida B. Wells (1862 - 1931) was an American

investigative journalist, sociologist, educator, and

early leader in the civil rights movement.

Her most famous work exposed the

horrors of lynching in the American South

as a tool of racist terrorism.

She was one of the founders of the National Association

for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Friday Face OFF -- Tasmanian Devil

For this week's Friday Face OFF link party

of art featuring faces, hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food, Gardening blog . . .

I present to you . . . a Tasmanian Devil!

No, NOT THIS ONE who we all know and love

from the old Looney Tunes cartoons --

I mean THIS ONE that I did

in my "Drawing Australia" class!

Apparently, real Tasmanian Devils are

carnivorous marsupials about the size of a small dog.

They have a stocky and muscular build, black fur,

a pungent odour, an extremely loud and disturbing screech,

a keen sense of smell, and ferocious feeding habits.

Our teacher said that this one (from her photo

taken at a zoo) is an older, battle-scarred veteran,

which explains the ragged cauliflower ears.

Nice fangs hanging out of the corners of its mouth, too!

Doesn't it look like it would just chew your arm off?

As usual, this was done freehand

using HB, 2B, 4B and 6B pencils.

[Art and photo of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2025]

This Post Is For Mike

Every Thursday, blogging buddy Mike of

Billions of Versions of Normal (found here)

does a post called "Thursday Trees."

I always enjoy his collections of tree photos,

so here's my contribution!

From the "Drawing Australia" course

I took recently, this is an Australian gum tree

being encircled by a strangler fig.

Let's pretend it's just a warm hug, okay?

I'm sure the gum tree will be fine! 

As usual, I did this freehand using

HB, 2B, 4B and 6B pencils.

[Art & photo of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2025]

Friday Face OFF -- Bearded Dragon Lizard

For this week's Friday Face OFF link party

of art featuring faces, hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food, Gardening blog . . .

 From the "Drawing Australia" course

which I'm currently taking, here's

a bearded dragon lizard. 

As usual, this was done freehand

using HB, 2B, 4B and 6B pencils.

According to Wikipedia --

Pogona is a genus of reptiles containing eight lizard species, which are often known by the common name bearded dragons or informally (especially in Australia) beardies. The name "bearded dragon" refers to the underside of the throat (or "beard") of the lizard, which can turn black and become inflated for a number of reasons, most often as a result of stress, if they feel threatened, or are trying to entice a mate. .  . . They are found throughout much of Australia and inhabit environments such as deserts and shrublands.

A real cutie-patootie, isn't he/she?

[Art and photo of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2025]

Rainbow Everything!

I did this rainbow watercolour painting last year

but I forgot to post it during Pride Month.

So here it is now -- better late than never!

[Art & photo of art © Debra She Who Seeks, 2024]