Little House on the Prairie
This picture began only as the idea of the overgrown door and window. It was a brief, single-line outline, which I decided to embellish and continue to fill with black until it took on a life of its own. That vines would come to dominate the house was a motif that developed only rather late in the process. Last to be added were the background mountains, and before that the tree and rock, to add balance to the page. The emphasis here was on wood grain and texture; accurate shadowing was of minor importance. What amazes me is the difference between the scanned image and the actual drawing; the “real” drawing seems to have much more depth. The scan is flat; part of this might have to do with the low level of contrast in the image—if I were to adjust the brightness and contrast levels it might obtain a bit more “life.”