The Wolf Princess (shamanic drawing)

The Wolf Princess is a small drawing done with watercolor, pen, colored pencil and collage. It references the idea of shamanic practices which allow the spiritual exploration of our bodies through a variety of practices. I often dream of characters who act completely human however have very bizarre wolf heads and they are usually giving very unusual advice. The advice that I am given in the dream perplexes me, and when I wake up I can never remember what was actually said to me.

Many of my smaller drawings are considered studies for larger works. I like to explore my ideas as fully developed smaller drawings in order to decide if I want to make a larger series of paintings studying the same subject matter and style. You can browse my other drawings here. The step that comes before this drawing studies is the sketch, and you can see new sketches every Friday as part of my sketchbook friday series.

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The City of Rugs

mixed media art by william hessian

Last night, I had one of those beautiful sleepless nights where my mind was racing a thousand times a minute. Good idea after good idea. Flicking on the lamp every few minutes to jot down ideas or make sketches. I can never put my finger on exactly when or why this sleepless creative session happens now and then. I did go to yoga and ate really well, but who knows the real reason why I am stuck watching the clock trying to release all my ideas from my head and let myself sleep. At the same time, it is a really fun experience and if it wasn't for being tired the next day, it is something I would wish happened every night.

Every time this does happen to me I have pages of notes to flip through in the morning and many of the ideas are either too grand, too outlandish, or too unpractical to actually utilize. Sometimes the ideas are smaller and more manageable.

The painting above was one of the many ideas I tossed into my sketches. It was created in between teaching three art lessons to the kids in Jamestown, North Dakota. The work itself was actually just a smaller sketch in a much larger art action/ performance idea. One of those ideas that I will probably never actualize, but that does get my mind turning. I would explain the entire concept to you, but then it would be spoiling the idea if I do happen to perform it in the future.

As far as what is happening in the artwork itself, you tell me. I would to hear what you think.