New Piece, But Not Really

The Separation of Heron and Crow II

monotype with mixed media, 9.5 x 8.75 inches

I finished this piece a while back, then totally forgot to post it. This only occurred to me recently (like today). Although I don't like it as well as version I, there are many things I do like about it, and it was lots of fun to do.

In case you're not a long-time reader of my blog, I should probably explain that the 'Heron and Crow' pieces were originally intended to be illustrations for a book I was writing. The writing, however, has proven to be very difficult, and I'm not at all sure that my idea will make a good story in the long run. But I really enjoyed making the original Separation of Heron and Crow, as it's now called, and liked the idea so much I decided to try another one just for fun.


The basic premise of the story was that we need both day and night, dark and light, land and water, etc. - that we need opposites to create a balanced whole. I attempted to express this idea through the overlapping and positive/negative mixing of the black and white birds, who are the main mythical characters in the story.  I thought that one aspect of this piece that lent itself to the theme was the bright background behind the Heron, while the darker background is behind the Crow.

Let me know what you think!

Weekly Quick Collage: Passage of Time + Radioactive

Passage of Time

My favorite things in life don't cost any money. It's really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.
~ Steve Jobs



Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.
~ Marie Curie

I wanted to take this opportunity to share a wonderful book with you.  Lauren Redniss has written and illustrated a book about the lives of Marie  and Pierre Curie, called  Radioactive.  The book is beautifully illustrated throughout. Many of the illustrations are cyanotypes ; this photographic printmaking process produces moody, deep blue  images that I think are just mesmerizing, and Redniss's gorgeously sensitive line drawings are equally enthralling.            .

If you look on Amazon, you can see more of the book's illustrations. Check it out!



Here is Lauren Redniss's Ted Talk, where she speaks about developing the book:

What's on My Easel

I promised to show you what's on my easel, so here goes.  The piece on the left is one that was already deemed "finished"- an illustration for my yet to be written book, called, "Crow Creates the Night".

Crow Creates the Night (version 1)

Even though I thought it was finished, the crow's beak really bothered me because I felt it wasn't shaped like the one in "The Separation of Heron and Crow",

The Separation of Heron and Crow

and therefore would be too inconsistent if I ever do finish the book. Finally I decided to fix it, and here's what it looks like now.

Crow Creates the Night (version 2)

Changing it was very difficult, and at one point I was sure I had ruined it, but I'm much more satisfied with it now. 

The piece in the middle of the easel is kind of a re-do of part of an older piece which just wasn't working. I don't have a 'before' photo of it to show you, but several things were erased and a few were added. Right now I'm putting a chaotic flock of birds in the sky, flying as birds do when they're startled out of a tree or something.  The idea is to create a sense of unease here, giving the viewer a feeling that something ominous is about to happen.  I can't tell how this one will turn out, or even if I'll like it.

The third piece is the next illustration for my non-existent book, entitled, "Heron Creates the Day." I hope you're able to see the outlines of the heron, which at this point is just a sketch on a piece of tracing paper.  Hopefully, I will get to this one soon.



                              

Artistic Influences: Kay Nielsen

Recently I was asked about my early artistic influences, so I thought I'd try to re-trace my personal path, as an obsession with one artist or style led to another. Immediately I thought of the surrealists I had studied and so admired when I was in high school and college. But one day it suddenly occurred to me that Surrealism was not my first influence at all, that my artistic sensibilities had also been informed by images I encountered much earlier in my life, a time that was buried deeper in my memory.

"Snowshoes" by Kay Nielsen

Being a child of ample imagination, I loved to read fairy tales. My fascination with these stories went beyond listening to an adult read "Red Riding Hood" or even watching Disney's iconic "Snow White" or "Sleeping Beauty"; I went to the library and checked out every book of fairy tales I could find, and devoured them.

"Pop! Out Flew the Moon" by Kay Nielsen

I was captivated as much by the pictures as the stories; the stunning illustrations in many of these books sparked an aspiration to draw like that myself. I populated my own imaginary world with knights, princesses, horses, and dragons that I drew and cut out. I would make up fantastic tales, and act them out with these 'paper doll' characters.

"A Large Flock of Birds" by Kay Nielsen

Some of the most inspiring illustrations were done by Danish artist Kay Nielsen, who worked during the Golden Age of Book Illustration in London around the turn of the century. According to Terri Windling (From Fairy Tales to Fantasia: The Art of Kay Nielsen), "Kay left Copenhagen for Paris to study art in Montparnasse. It was there that he, like so many art students, discovered Aubrey Beardsley's work, with its fine use of line and ornamentation and its aura of dark romance. Beardsley's drawings made a considerable impression on him, containing as it did two of the things he loved best: imagery from myth and folklore, and the strong influence of Japanese art."

"How Morgan Le Fay Gave a Shield to Sir Tristram" by Aubrey Beardsley

"The Sea off Satta" by Hiroshige


"The North Wind Went Over the Sea" by Kay Nielsen

I loved the drama and emotion these pictures evoked, the lush colors, the stylized figures. For me, they were an integral part of the stories, as important as the words. The strong sense of composition and use of flowing line are aspects of Nielsen's work that I unconsciously incorporated, over time, into my own work.


"Dakini" by S. Davidson


I think the function of artwork as narrative has also been an aspect of my work, and one that has come to the forefront again in my recent work.

"The Traveler's Tale: As the Crow Flies" by S. Davidson


"Then He Took Her Home" by Kay Nielsen

It's strange how these things we've forgotten about have influenced us so profoundly. Perhaps they lay so deeply and thoroughly imbedded in our past that they've become a part of us.