Artist: A picture’s worth a thousand words.

Wordsmith: Yeah, but brevity is the soul of wit.

Artist: You want to take this outside?

Wordsmith: I’ll take your face outside!

(Weakling v. weakling struggle erupts.)

Enter peacemaker Katie Rowley. The Jamaica Plain artist’s drawings work with word and image to pack a whimsical, picturesque punch.

Using an eyedropper, she creates childlike figures in ink and then adds words by drawing backward letters on her finger and pressing them onto the page. Sort of like a one-type-piece printing press.

Her pithy sayings — “it misses by this much,” “surely you perform some function” — usually come right off the top of her head.

The sketches are available as prints and screen-printed baby clothing (for early art appreciation).

Word.

Available at Vessel, 125 Kingston Street, Downtown (617-292-0982); Koo de Kir, 65 Chestnut Street, Beacon Hill (617-723-8111); online at drawingsbykatie.com.

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