Gemini with Cancer (1994) - Pencil sketch, Pen and ink on paper

      My father and I both shared the same Zodiac sign, but little else.  We did not see eye to eye on much if anything, I don't care to revisit our relationship or air any familial dirty laundry on the internet, suffice it to say that he was not a good dad.  My father is dead now and I sometimes feel bad, but only for not caring... it was when I was first told he had colon cancer that the inspiration for this next work happened.  Below is the original design sketch for the dual image, it is my father and I as skeletons butting heads.  I had drawn the skeletal bat to represent all the dark family bits and it took a few weeks to figure out what would make up the rest.  My older brother was my dads favorite and a Cancer, so a crab totally fit in the dual image... both as the deadly disease and as the Zodiac sign.

      I photocopied the sketch larger, filled in some of the dark areas and then set about drawing the crab in...     

      I cleaned up the dual image a bit with photo editing software and the finished(?) work is shown below.

Gemini with Cancer