Illustration Friday: Wisdom

This is a design I've been working on for my sister's online shop. I need at least to redo the lettering because I misspelled the shop name and the paper is a bit warped, which really shows in the lettering on the left side. I'm also thinking I need to make the letters shorter and spread more widely so they don't overpower the image. They probably won't be colored the same, either. When it is displayed in the shop, the whole image will be a good bit bigger than what you see here, I expect. 

I decided to share it today as is because I wanted to get it out for the Illustration Friday prompt, "Wisdom." It is wise, I think, to connect more directly and simply with the earth God has given us. My sister will be sharing her natural health wisdom as she sells plants, books, homemade herbal products and other things she makes.   

Happy Easter!

The Revival

Unfold! unfold! Take in His light,

Who makes thy cares more short than night.

The joys which with His day-star rise

He deals to all but drowsy eyes;

And, what the men of this world miss,

Some drops and dews of future bliss. 

Hark! how His winds have chang'd their note!

And with warm whispers call thee out;

The frosts are past, the storms are gone,

And backward life at last comes on.

The lofty groves in express joys 

Reply unto the turtle's voice;

And here in dust and dirt, O here

The lilies of His love appear! 

by Henry Vaughan, 1621-1695

Springtime, by Charles Conder, 1868-1909

What I did this week

I'm so glad to be done with this dang cat. Trying to carve out non-wonky little eyes in a three quarter's view of the face made me crazy. There were moments when I actually felt I was near to passing out from the stress of  effort and frustration. This morning I will give it to my client who will have it cast in pewter for his beaded book mark business, Book Thongs. I'll probably put a few in my shop as well.

I did this little sketch during my morning drawing exercises when I look at great art online and rough out compositions or figures. I was so taken by this little girl's face that I developed it more than usual and didn't bother with the composition or rest of the figure. I'm sad to see that one eye is too big and set too far over. I think I see it clearly now because the values are flattened in the photo. The deeper, more varied shadows in my actual drawing make it look better and made me comfortable with wrong proportions. I think I'll try it again in the next few days and see what I can learn.

Illustration Friday: Shelter

Hampton and Loula in the rain.

A wax rough, a pencil sketch

I spent much of my art time this week working on an unexpected freelance project--a wax model for a kitty charm. It looks blurry because it is still very much in the rough stage, which is the fun, optimistic stage. Most of the refining stage will be fun too, except for the face. That will be hard because though it is so small, I want that tiny face to have a sweet expression. I have a hard time making the tools say what I want at that scale.

 In the background is a sketch of my thirteen year old son, captured while we watched a video together. The likeness is pretty good, though not amazing. I'm not pushy enough to make my child models really sit still! I'm trying to do a lot of sketching like this, at odd moments. This is more developed than most of what I've been doing.

The video we were watching was called Are you talented enough by illustrator and teacher Jake Parker. I found it mildly interesting. My son told me he thought it was very interesting. I never would have known by the look on his face.

Sunflower!

We become so accustomed to looking at art online or in books, that I think we forget the immediate strong presence of an original piece of  handmade fine art. When I won this linoleum print in a giveaway by Linda Hensley I was reminded.

My photography skill (or camera) is frustratingly limited in expressing the vibrant colors of the ink, colored pencil and paper. In real life the yellow is more glowing and the leaves and border are a vibrant green. There is a hint of violet in the colored pencil accents and the matting.

This is not a piece made to be touched, but I do love the somewhat chalky feel of the matte printing ink. I love the way the layer of ink looks substantial on the paper, a quality never to be attained in a digital print. It just doesn't show in the photos, either, sadly.  I think this photo, checkered with light and shadow releases more of the print's color than those taken in diffuse light.

 I love the flower's glowing heart, accentuated with pencils.

I've never made a linoleum print before, but I do carve things. The thought of sharp handheld tools carving out the lines of this picture is deeply satisfying to me. I especially love the heavier lines curling over the large petals. 

Thank you, Linda, for being generous with your beautiful work.

Odds and ends, lots of links

I'm disappointed that I didn't get my Illustration Friday drawing done this week. I spent a lot of time on it, but it was just too big for me to finish in time. I thought maybe I'd show pictures of the work in progress, but I'm so tired right now, I just can't pull it off.  Maybe next week. I also want to take pictures of a print I won in a giveaway last spring or summer (I think) from the beautiful writer and artist Linda Hensley. It's a sunflower, which might cheer us all up this gray winter. (I'm telling you my goals to make them feel more real to me, which is helpful in my current foggy mood.)

Tonight I spent some time watching part of a video series on composition produced by The Society of Visual Storytelling.  My compositions, such as they are, have been completely intuitive. It felt really good to have some solid tips. I was also introduced to an illustrator new and very pleasing to me, Poly Bernatene. Here a few of his illustration, but I really recommend you click on the link to his site link to enjoy more, larger images.

I think this first picture was actually built like a little stage set and photographed. I love it. It reminds me of some drawings by my brother, Jamie Luhn. (Check him out!)