Rich Lee Draws!!!: Nice, France

I was browsing through some of my art books about a month ago and I came across some traditional pen and ink artists around the turn of the century. I am sure I favor the black and white ink drawings much more than any other style. Not sure what it is about the ink drawings I like, but there's just something amazing about turning black or white lines into something that has depth, atmosphere, and all that. Painting with black lines ~

After getting a healthy dose of inspiration from those books, I decided that I wanted to do a personal side project and do a straight pen & ink drawing. So much of the stuff I do for work is computer based, and while it is practical for me to work on the computer, I do miss that 'old' feel of the pen nib scratching the surface of paper.

Anyhow, I went through some pics of my honeymoon in France and Italy with the wife and found something from Nice, France. One morning I went out for a run in Nice. From where we were staying, it was a quick jog to the beach area. But, as soon as I turned onto the street where the beach was, I was blown away at the beauty of that sunrise and region. The next morning I took a camera with me to take a few snapshots. One of the snapshots was this scene of a fisherman on the beach silhouetted by the glare of the waters. Really really cool. So, I used that photo as a reference for the drawing below. Since it was one of our favorite spots of our honeymoon, I gave the drawing to my wife. I hope I can go back there one day ... not a bad way to spend some time!