Birthday mashup
(Drawing for Ying’s birthday: Glasgow, Scotland)
In a long distance relationship when a birthday is at hand, it can be difficult to know how to approach it. I did so in my usual unorthodox style, sending nothing by mail; no letter, card or gift – it would take weeks to reach him. I opted instead for time in the way of drawing hours. To explain, it is a sort of personal collage of significant events, places and activities we have enjoyed together. It was something I could scan and send on his actual birthday, knowing he could receive it by email. He can collect his gift next time we see each other, but for the time being he may enjoy it in some capacity.
You may have seen this image already, but as it’s one of the best drawn and most ambitious of my drawings to date, I feel it needs some more airtime. I spent three afternoons on it – which might explain my forgetfulness in writing a post on Thursday. I drew the entire thing without a mistake – what you see here is what is on the paper, something that (regretfully) is not always the case in my drawings. Often they are cobbled together from a series of drawings, so my growing ability to make less mistakes and be more consistent is something I wish to advertise!
