Dragon in Flight // graphite drawing on toned paper

Vain Violet by SashaRJones

6 and 10 please!

6. Which artists inspire you right now?

Saren Stone ♡ @reddokkaebe ♡ Taran Fiddler ♡ @nataliedecorsair ♡ @shpepyao ♡ @marcusto ♡ Bruno Redondo ♡ @monstrifex-art ♡ @beastsoulart ♡ @peachiewizardart ♡ @thefusspot ♡ @phobs-heh ♡ @sasharjones ♡ @dark-kanova ♡ @hannahorca ♡ @bucketofrobots ♡ @shibara ♡ @nightspin--sfmt ♡ @muepin ♡ @namiinstone ♡ @extra-vertebrae ♡ @finzphoenix ♡ @shin-arei ♡ @liktar-art ♡ @shoomlah ♡ @thefuzzyaya ♡ @lurelin ♡ @qugre ♡ @bioatomic ♡ @nataliehall ♡ @stjepan-sejic ♡ @pirate-cashoo ♡ @tendermiasma ♡ @dunesand ♡ @crispy-ghee ♡ @kelogsloops And a bunch more that are either too spicy to link or have me blocked (good art is good art, man)

10. What's the one thing that inspired you to make drawing your consistent hobby?

Nothing. There was no inspiration. I started drawing when I was old enough to hold a crayon and never stopped, because I can't stop. It's just intrinsic to who I am

But I know that's an unsatisfying answer, and also art is my career rather than a hobby, so for a slightly less unsatisfying but still kind of anti-climactic answer: I became a professional artist because I wasn't "good enough" (read: I wasn't interested enough to put in the effort to get good) at anything else. I actually wanted to go into zoology, but after doing 4 years of marine bio and absolutely hating all the aspects of it that had nothing to do with animal science, I decided I never wanted to do math or chemistry ever again. And then I was a teenager with undiagnosed depression and anxiety and ADHD and autism and the very concept of a muggle job was fucking terrifying to me. So I stayed home and let people pay me to draw their dog people getting frisky instead lol

On the precipice. Models: @jonathanvair & @sasharjones #animal #dog #africanwilddog #mask (at Santa Fe, New Mexico) https://www.instagram.com/p/B914eFIJYZe/?igshid=c2duubt15i0i

Flora Soul – @sasharjones

My time spent immersed in the verdant landscapes of Iceland inspired several small paintings of dragons (an ongoing fascination of mine) immersed in and borne of the natural environment itself.

In painting 'Flora Soul' I pushed myself to leave in more abstraction, both in technique and in the figure itself. The mingling of the paint and solvent echoed the patterns of greenery and rich damp earth of the steep hillsides, which was a pattern I wove into my mark making as well. The top side of the wing disintegrates into wild Angelica, while the underside of the other wing lifts to reveal the violet Lupine. 

Outside of my time spent in the artist residency, I did a lot of backpacking through Iceland and was constantly reminded of how the land was far more powerful and wise than myself.

Cyclone Person

Graphite on bristol, 6″x10″

by Jenna Kass

Done for the Month of Fear 2017 challenge, “Howl”. 

All over the world, natural disasters have left paths of destruction, and the first thing I thought of with howl was the wind.

Cyclone Person is a storm spirit of the Shawnee and Lenape tribes. While some tribes identified Cyclone Person as variously male or female, it is possible that they were originally not anthropomorphized at all, and was genderless. Cyclone Person was not malevolent, though; they would never intentionally harm a Shawnee, the tribe maintained. 

Is this Cyclone Person in the heart of their domain, or a victim tossed up into the tornado’s embrace? The wind howls either way.

(Thank you to @sasharjones for advising me on drawing a non-normative body!)

Tweeted

I'll be table 2 at @staple this weekend! Its been a crazy year and a half since my first Staple and I'm bringing a ton of work, new and old! http://pic.twitter.com/Ml9gZL8jzy

— Sasha @STAPLE! #2 (@SashaRJones) September 6, 2017

Wolf Stare

mixed media // store, patreon

Owl Sage

oil on panel // patreon, store

Sight

Sometimes the absence of a thing becomes a meditation on the thing itself.

oil on panel // store, patreon

Desert Raven // oil on panel

Maroon Hawkgryph // mixed media

All of my corvid paintings from 2022! I also did three raven sticker designs, and have several new corvid paintings in progress already. Really just vibrating with excitement at all the new art I want to make this year.

Wings I

oil on panel // patreon, store

Sky Study III

oil on panel // patreon, store

An arboreal dragon I drew a few years ago.