Four years ago I nearly died drown by the ill named Pacific Ocean while surfing alone in San Francisco. This is what it felt like at the time. I can still feel it -the quietness just before the blackout.

Ink on paper, 10″ x 14″.

I love this drawing; the original is quite a bit better than the reproduction shown here because the darks somehow don’t translate on a screen -hopefully you get enough of a feel for the piece. Two dogs rest on shreds of paper, their faces morphing into a seabird’s skull or a 19th century anatomy drawing (the magnificient Handbuch der Anatomie der Tiere für Künstler, ca. 1900, which I also used in this post).

Ink and watercolor on paper, 10″ x 14″

This is what the inside of the death chamber on condemned row at St Quentin looks like.

Ink on paper and digital bubbles, 10″ x 14″.

Click once on the image to zoom, and once again on the bottom right corner for full size. Click on the image again to get back to post!

Ink on paper and digital, 10″ x 14″

Click on the image to enlarge.

The dog heads at the bottom of this piece were drawn from the extraordinary Handbuch der Anatomie der Tiere für Künstler illustrated by Hermann Dittrich ca. 1900. (See the original plate).

I have been polishing up on my anatomy recently, and discovering these illustrations as a result.

Ink and paper just seem destined to draw skulls and bones.

Click on the images to enlarge.