Illustration Friday - Slither

Acrylic on 12 x 12 Canvases

vertical diptych

Slither, sail, and soar

Across a teal blue sky,

Portent of the storm to come

Omniscient roaming eye.

Giver,

Taker,

Promise maker,

Case of do or die.

Journey on, yet stay a while

Earth pleads for your sigh.

I admit, I wrote the poem just to make what I am currently working on fit the IF word of the week.  But I was not really in the mood for drawing snakes, snails, lizards, centipedes or anything else that literally slithers.  I am also trying to crank out enough art to have a reasonable offering for an upcoming artwalk on June 18th.  

The color is very slightly off,  I took one image in the morning and the other in the afternoon.  They match up better in person.  Other than that issue, I would love to hear some constructive criticism.  I struggled over whether or not I liked the strong contrasts, (dark neutral grays, stark vibrant teal) but I worked on it almost like an abstraction.  I view it more as a formalist abstract work.  Let me know what you think.

Illustration Friday - Early

Early Morning Wake Up Call - 4am

This is Napoleon.  He is our little Japanese Silkie rooster.  A full moon is as good as sunshine for him and he takes his job as Reveille horn blower seriously.  We often hear him sounding the wake up call as early as three or four in the morning.  Needless to say we have learned how to sleep with pillows over our heads.

Illustration Friday - Equipment

The Fig Leaf Campaign

ATC 2.5 x 3.5 inches

colored pencil 

I have to lay blame/give credit to my husband for my interpretation of this weeks word.  He has a habit of referring to male anatomy as "equipment."  So, in order to keep my blog (cough) "school appropriate" I thought I would touch on a bit of art history associated with the topic of male anatomy and censorship.

The addition of fig leaves to anatomically complete nude sculptures began in the mid 16th century as a reaction to Michelangelo's David and the Sistine Chapel Frescos.  A man by the name of Cardinal Carafa, led the campaign to cover nude figures in paintings and sculptures with a fig leaf.  An apron of fig leaves was the biblical symbolic clothing of Adam when he first recognized his own nakedness in the book of Genesis.  Unfortunately hundreds if not thousands of works of art were permanently damaged in the process of removing the offending appendages and covering the wounded artwork with plaster or bronze fig leaves.  

Amazingly many sculptures have since been reunited with their original  "equipment".

Clean Puppy - Dirty Puppy

Clean, beautiful, sweet, obedient, angelic puppy,

Stinky, nasty, slimy, fishy, naughty (but very happy) puppy

Lucy found the fish pond.  'Nuff said.

Illustration Friday - Fearless

Who's the Boss

I have a new border collie puppy named Lucy who likes to try to herd the cats.  Unfortunately for Lucy, my cats know better than to cede power to a mere juvenal delenquent of a dog.  Lucy tries to be brave, but it is a battle she cannot win. I just hope she exhibits the same fearlessness when it is time for her to meet the sheep.  Her bravery will be particularly important with the ram that tries to run me down every time I enter the pasture.  She is a smart pup and I have high hopes for her herding instinct and bravery.

Lucy at 13 weeks

Illustration Friday - Cocoon

White Dwarf Cocoon

acrylic ink on paper

When stars begin to die they shed their outer layer in the process of becoming a white dwarf.  The expelled outer layer is called a cocoon.  Our own sun will be at this stage in about 5 billion years.