Hi, Reader,

Ever have contact with the spiritual world? Most people have at least one story of a bizarrely synchronous event or uncanny "communication" coming from the other side.

Before I begin my story, I want to let you know I am looking for obscure drawing techniques for a new class. If you know of any, please let me know.

Here's my ghost story.

An old dear friend of my family, Raymond Petersen, taught botany at Howard University. He mentored me on a school science fair project, "The Allelopathic Effects of Lichens on Moss Spores," which explored the tactics of chemical warfare that lichens deploy on moss spores.

After Raymond retired from botany, he became a painter, and, as expected, took inspiration from the plant kingdom.

I had no contact with Raymond after 2011, learning later he had died of a heart attack.

Not knowing Raymond even had a minimal Facebook page, it was so weird, when his face popped up in my feed last night, and a drawing he posted in 2010, explaining a technique he used. He was saying, "Hello from beyond the grave. Let me help you with your obscure drawing technique project."

The Rotating Bosque Technique

Raymond explained the technique for the above painting-

"Working on this - a style more drawing than painting. This started out as a sketch of the Albuquerque bosque - the cottonwood forest lining the banks of the Rio Grande. Then, I rotated the panel 3 times. With each rotation, an additional sketch of the bosque was drawn over the former, resulting in four superimposed drawings. Then, I began blocking out shapes and forms that suggested themselves by painting over lines and by painting out crossing lines. At first a hand emerged." He goes on to talk about what else emerged.

Today's lesson in obscure drawing techniques is thus: Start with a landscape. Rotate your page. Draw again. Rotate. Draw again. Rotate. What emerges?

I’ll be sharing more obscure techniques in future letters.

If you're interested in another obscure drawing techniques, my book, A Beginner's Guide to Painting on Glass with a Microwave Kiln will be available on Kindle for preorder later in July.

I will also be offering limited access to a discounted digital download of the guide before it comes out on Amazon for those who will promise to give me feedback and leave a review on my Amazon page. Let me know if you're interested.

Until next time!

Mora

​artist-designer-educator​

​moradasilva.com​

nurturing the unconventional and tinkering spirit