Inktober 2019, Day 7: Enchanted

The prompt, "Enchanted," reminded me of the Emperor's New Clothes aspect of psychiatry. I'm not opposed to the profession, in fact I find it interesting and full of hope. But it is admittedly weird, its foundation is more of a leap of faith than other medical fields, and its history is riddled with major problems. I've come to see it as a flawed tool, used by flawed people, doing their best to help other flawed people. The foundations of "professional detachment" and the "authority" of the medical community are especially ephemeral in interactions between what are essentially two flawed people. I think most patients know this, even as they choose to continue. Most psychiatrists would probably agree as long as they're not feeling attacked and have not drunk the Doctors Are Gods kool-aid (which, to their credit, a large number have not). Anyway, that is what I mean by the "Emperor's New Clothes" aspect of the profession: both patients and psychiatrists must do a lot of pretending to make it work.

Psychiatrists. Inktober 2019, Day 7, prompt word, "Enchanted." Dip pen and ink, 8 x 11 in. by Ciana Pullen. [Image description: Black and white contour pen drawing of a group of naked people standing examining around an object or person of interest (not pictured). One young thin man leans down and extends a pointer finger as if about to push a button. A woman with short hair slouches and holds a clip board. A tall older fatter man with a beard stands with his legs planted far apart and his arms crossed. The background is blank.]

Inktober 2018 Day 20 "Breakable"

Day 20 of Inktober, prompt word "Breakable." I previously wrote about Inktober here. This is an edited version, but I'm posting these daily on my Instagram, @St.Rhinoceros:

Day 20 of Inktober 2018, prompt word "Breakable." Dip pen and ink. By Ciana Pullen / St. Rhinocéros. [Image description: black and white ink drawing of a woman walking on a beach. A more detailed rectangular section in the upper center of the page shows a woman in a sweatshirt and jeans walking near the waves viewed from far away. A piece of driftwood and seaweed sits half buried in the sand. Beyond the frame of that rectangular section is a series of five overlapping contour line drawings of a nude woman walking, looking up and looking down and ahead, walking forward and, with perspective, moving diagonally from upper left to lower right toward the viewer. The larger version of the driftwood also makes an overlapping appearance beyond the rectangular section. The horizon line and edge of the waves extends also beyond the section forming a triangular shape because of perspective. The overall style is realistic, not cartoony.]

Inktober 2018 Day 7 "Exhausted"

Day 7 of Inktober, prompt word "Exhuasted." I previously wrote about Inktober here. This is an edited version, but I'm posting these daily on my Instagram, @St.Rhinoceros:

Day 7 of Inktober 2018, prompt word "Exhausted." I was happy with the previous two drawings, but I felt my actual drawing was too uptight. So for this one I drew laundry because it doesn't need to be exact or precise like a human figure, and tried to just have fun with markmaking. I'm especially happy with the socks on the top and the hem of the jeans on the bottom. By Ciana Pullen / St. Rhinocéros. Dip pen and ink. [Image description: black and white line drawing of a teetering pile of folded laundry. Some of it is loose contour drawing, some is a variety of markmaking and patterns.]

Knight in a Hungarian Restaurant

A suit of armor in the foyer of a restaurant in Budapest, by Ciana Pullen / St. Rhinocéros

Testing New Pen Nibs on a Burberry Ad

Sketch of a Burberry ad, by Ciana Pullen / St. Rhinocéros

Everyone in Marie Claire magazine

Some good practice! I flipped through Marie Claire (the French one) and drew everyone who appeared in its pages. French Marie Claire, btw, is way way better than the American one.

Sketch of a bus

I ran across this old sketch recently that I did in a bus on the way to UW in Seattle.

Contour

A small detail from an old figure drawing warm-up sketch that I went back and re-worked. I was very happy with the piece in its entirety, until my husband remarked that it looked like the German flag (which is synonymous with sports, since that's the only time you see the flag out and about). Now I can't un-see it; I might have to add a fourth color here and there.