This is another style I've developed over the years. All my black and white art is hand drawn with simply a black pen on white paper. I don't draw them first in pencil but just start and let them evolve. Some people may look at them as creative doodles, built up to fill in areas and shapes, but when you look closely at the art work you may be surprised to discover the intricate picture in the larger patterned frame work. I've been told many times by people staring in awe at my art, "Hey! I never saw that bit before!" They look at me suspiciously as if I snuck in during the night and changed something when they weren't looking.

My B/W art has been popular from the beginning and is loved by all ages. B/W art doesn't age and compliments any color scheme. In answer to the many people who have asked me this question over my life time, yes, I do like color......in fact I love it and have a hard time choosing a favorite one. There's something about B/W art that fascinates me though. Maybe it's because I can hide lots of surprises in the picture. Surprises that jump out and say BOO! when you least expect it.
 

You may just be able to make out the candle burning brightly in the top left hand corner. The outline shape to the right of the open area with no patterns is a profile of a face. Did you see this before I mentioned it? Can you see it now? For those of you who can see the face outline, you will be amazed to discover I've met people over the years who can't see the face, even after I've pointed it out to them and traced it with my finger and showed them the forehead sloping down to the nose, then lips then around the chin and down. In the close up below it may be easier to see the profile of the face. To the right of the eye, just about where an ear would be, is a butterfly.

Contrary to what you can see here, the picture is crisp black and white. In real life the contrast is more startling. When I was creating this one I was pondering about just that...creation! The question is, "Are the lips blowing or sucking?" Are you laughing now?  It's one of those questions which I get asked every now and then.....I look at the person wondering about this mystery and I ask them, "Are the lips blowing out, therefore creating itself or are the lips sucking in and devouring it's own existence? It's the same thing as the question, "Is this cup half full or half empty?" The answers to these questions tell me a lot about the person asking it.
 

I donated this piece to a social event to raise money for The AIDS Foundation. A fashion parade was held and my picture was raffled off, raising a grand sum of $885.  At $1 a ticket, that was a lot of tickets sold. I was very pleased to be able to give this money to The AIDS Foundation to help them with their battle to find a cure.