Who he is...

My wonderful lifelong friend Roger sent this poem after seeing the new drawing.

Abou ben Adhem

Abou Ben Adhem, may his great tribe increase,
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
And making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold.

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And so, to the presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?" The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."

"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerily still; and said, "I pray thee then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow men."

The angel wrote and vanished. The next night
It came again with great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

James Leigh Hunt

Better late than never!

Last week was crazy, and then we went out of town for a long weekend. I had every intention of finishing this while there - and I even brought another one to start - but I just needed to veg out. Which I did in stunning fashion! But here is "Turbaned Man". I like him!

Emerging from the paper...

I am drawing the same man. I will work on the painting later in the week, I think, and I don't love the warm grays, but it's been good. I like the drawing so far, but can only go about an hour at a time. When I realize I'm doing big lines or swoops to shade, it's time to quit for awhile! This is 2 hours in.