My senryu book is evolving into something pretty cool. I started out the year doing my work the traditional way, that is, on paper with a crow quill pen and a bottle of black ink. I completed two 11×17″ drawings this way and thought I was on a roll. But when I got to the third, I had such trouble drawing exactly what I wanted, I spent six frustrating weeks trying and trying again. Ugh. I eventually put my pen and ink aside and began to do the piece digitally. And boom, I was done it in a week. I’ve posted a tease of the offending piece above.
The way things are going, my little senryu book should be done and out in the world before spring 2021. I’m dying to get back to my fairy tales. I have four new ones and still sitting in the wings, the new Kana. As soon as these illustrations are complete, and I’m back to writing full time, I plan to embark on illustration tests in the style of the best fairy tale illustrators. Once I’m confident in the style, I’ll start work on my original Seven Tales and publish illustrated versions of each story.
There should be about twenty senryu images like this when I’m done. It takes me between two and six days to draw one of these things. That’s about four or five hours of drawing every day. I love doing it. It’s difficult and satisfying in a very different way than writing. Plus, I get to finish a project in a few days instead of a few months.