I've heard they have a plate instead of teeth, but although this one kept opening it's mouth, the edges seemed pliable and the shape variable. Perhaps I should have shown the lower stalks raised or forward, which seems more typical (I certainly had my choice), but this one seemed to be doing some version of "seeing" with the top eye-stalks (which do have a dark dot) and "smelling" or "tasting" with the lower stalk set.
Unsuccessful in showing the difficult wet velvet look of this big guy/gal (slugs are hermaphroditic), I tried darkening the area behind and above, but that was worse so I had to erase, leaving that area smudgy. At that point, I was also fighting the influence of a whole new medium: Slug slime.
Lots of lessons here... I started him/her too close to the centre of the page and had to resort to cropping. Slugs are hard to handle and won't stay on their stick and make goo and yuck all over your paper and I had to resort to cropping. When the slug slime gets all over your left hand due to trying to corral while drawing with your right, it takes lots of time and rubbing alcohol to get it all off... I almost had to resort to cropping...
I for one am looking forward to more in the slug slime medium.......wonder if it is more suited to texture, like if you dusted it with...used coffee grounds, just for instance....?
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Yeah, slug slime as a medium! I wonder what the thinner would be? You said alcohol works... You certainly are a courageous artist! I would never touch a slug, or let one on my paper! Your drawing is beautiful, by the way! (and I've learned a lot about slugs!)
ReplyDeleteWhat an artist won't do for her art!!! This is far beyond Winslow Homer's having someone tie him to a post so he could study storms and not be washed away by the waves. I've picked far to many slugs from my lettuces and cabbages to want to give them that much attention, and yes, they do have a beauty to them.
ReplyDeleteHe did that? Good grief that boy was strange...
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