New paintings and regular art updates.
Part of a coffee pot that just has foreign stamped on the base. It has raised decoration of a dragon on it. I am not sure how old it is and whether it is Chinese or Japanese. Its a delicate design and it arrived wrapped in bubble wrap and it has gone back to its home the same way. I guess some of the design is airbrushed on, but that might mean it is more modern than I think it is. It would be interestingvto find out.
Breath of fire
Or stream of ice?
Steam and fumes
Fierce or nice?
What is a dragon?
A friend or foe
Mythological
How can we know?
Genetic reboot
Turn into something new.
Evil or good?
What could be true?
Shiny table top duplicated.
Metal scales?
Shining body
Wingbeat buffeting
Clad in sky
Scales ripple in flight
As the air squeezes
Between them.
I could not sleep last night. Various things kept me awake so I decided to experiment with linocutting and printing till dawn. I tried different paper, adding felt pen under the ink and even printing onto a layer of post-it notes. Not too bad for a novice, I even managed curves and didn’t cut my hand!
One thing I forgot, the print reverses the image, hence my initials are backwards! Duh!
Used a digital app to u the contrast and colours on this drawing, I also made parts of it negative. I think it’s an interesting effect. The reds and greens have been enhanced, they were actually on the other side of the sketchbook page I use. It’s thinker paper than some but the ink can bleed through slightly to the other side of the paper.
Flying up into the sky
She was scared, that’s no lie!
Round cliff edges in flight
And around the lighthouse, bright
They swiftly rose up very high!
My dragon story is coming on. But I’m trying to write 16 limericks to go with it (perhaps more). Each one will relate to a page that has a black and white ongoing illustration of the story. At the moment I’m trying to decide on a good clear font for the writing which will be visible against any illustration. There will also be colour illustrations of the dragons scales. This poem and image are part of the book so I have to say that they are covered by copyright and should not be copied or shared without my permission. Im just giving you an idea of what I have been up to ( bad limericks included!)
Mid way through this painting, the background blue is actually (and strangely) a mixture of deep green and dark violet. Who knew that would happen? I will calm the pink down and add more gold to make it more regal. I painted Draco in a storm, its tail and wings are being blown by the storm winds. I hope to add more detail as I work on it.
My mind is racing, I cannot sleep. My hand has held a paintbrush and suddenly the impetus is there to paint again despite the shaking and wobbling. I started three more small paintings tonight, a kingfisher, then this dragon, and finally a face I’ve called medusa. All works in progress. I think the illustration side of me is leaking into my paintings!
Draco, the dragon constellation and Ursa minor. Draco writhes up the northern night sky from the constellation Hercules up to Lyra. It sits near the north pole of the ecliptic. It was first identified by Ptolomey in the 2nd century. It remains one of 88 modern constellations.
I’ve found out a lot as I’ve written my college report. Eastern dragons are wise and benign, western ones evil and dangerous. They have lots of different appearances that vary depending on where they are were from or the time they were imagined. No legs, two legs, four legs, winged. Dragons seem to have evolved through time and now a more standardised anatomy seems to have emerged. I wonder how dragons will change in the future?
My college project is about dragons. I have to write a report and I’m getting bogged down with all the information I’m trying to put together. From dinosaur fossils that could have been mistaken for dragons. To their ancient mythological history. Then I looked at Bestiaries and the bible. It’s surprising how many places they appear. There is a dragon or group of dragons for every continent. So much so that I cannot talk about all of them. They seem to split between benign and protective beasts or evil and sly. Then I look at the symbology of them. I tried to include some semiology within the report. Finally I’m looking at modern imagery, novels and children’s stories. I’ve also started to write a children’s book and I’m using my illustrations for it. I hope to finish writing soon but each time I think I have finished I find more to put in and more to edit out. I think I have too many quotes and I need to put more in my own words.
Mallaband-Brown