If you look carefully, you will see that the bottom half is an open book, with an illustration on the left and text on the right. The top half are two different pieces. Using various manipulations, I blended common elements, that give it a bit more unity.
The book is an interesting curiosity, that somehow ended up in my collection from previous generations. It is a Russian 1928 edition of Dominion by J F Rutherford ~ early Jehovah Witness proselytizing.
Beautifully bound with an #EmbossedCover, and colour #BookPlate#Illustrations. I’ve been tempted to use it for altered book art, but for now, just scans for collage work.
King Charles’ new royal portrait - Besides being used as #Romantasy cover art, you could go dark and #Weird - a mashup of The King in Yellow and Masque of the Red Death.
A yellow-back or yellowback is a cheap #Novel which was published in Britain in the second half of the #19thCentury. They were occasionally called "mustard-plaster" novels.[1]
Day 18 of #Repostober where you share old art during the month of October
🎨 Watercolor & ink, by me
An Illustration for the short story "Zero Sum" by the talented J. Daniel Stone. The story + art will be included in his 2024 collection RAGING IN THE DARK.
A drawing made mostly with artist grade crayons by Caran D'Ache, rather than my usual painting supplies.
I'd say that along watercolors, crayons is the most difficult medium to master, because in order to get good coverage and rich, deep colors requires lots of skill. Watercolors are very difficult compared to other, opaque paints because it requires you to think in negative space due to its transparency.
And yet, these are the two art supply mediums we give to kids in pre-school and school. I'd posit that they need to start with colored pencils for drawing, and gouache for painting, not crayons and watercolors.
Tinker & Sheep. This is the very last illustration I painted and then scanned. Now all my hardware is packed away for our move to Europe in just a few days!
I painted this last night with watercolor & ink, until 4 am, and I really like how it came out. The palette is right up my alley. That pumpkin pie too...
In a cabin nestled deep within the woods,
A man in slumber, dreaming as he should,
When in the hush of night, a sound arose,
Three foxes' whispers, in a tale they chose.
Their voices painted stories upon the air,
Of ancient forests and adventures rare,
The man, now stirred from sleep's soft embrace,
Joined the foxes' dance in that quiet place.
I painted this portrait of an old lady and her dog with handmade watercolors. I love that type of watercolor because it has a very matte, vintage finish compared to commercial watercolors. It's quite difficult to work with it using many layers due to its large particle size (it's ground by hand), but the final feel looks good.
I was a big Greek mythology buff at school. My dad had bought an encyclopedia in the late '70s, and I was learning everything about it via it. Naturally, my favorite character was goddess Athena. All about knowledge & wisdom. The most kind-hearted of the gods too. So I had to paint a portrait in her honor.
When I create narrative illustrations like this one, it's just my inner desire to write & illustrate a children's book. I just wish that AI hadn't destroyed that market segment. Regardless, I might take the plunge and try it...
Back to the cottagecore style, using only 3 colors in the gouache palette (raw umber, burnt sienna, and indigo), plus a bit of yellow colored pencil for the jacket. It's unreal how much more cohesive a piece looks when the palette is so limited. But while this can be a great tool, helping artists to not mess up the colors, it also betrays weakness. Getting very colorful and fully saturated colors to work cohesively in a piece (as seen in some uber-modern pieces), is an art in itself. An art I haven't mastered yet...
I think this is the most complex watercolor I made so far, at least in terms of sketching. I'm happy how it came out for the most part. I wanted to make it a bit funny, given that most families are kinda like that, each person living in their own little world, even when among loved ones.
A new gouache painting, part of my "cottagecore" series. For this, I used the Zorn palette, one of the most restrictive palettes around. Except the b&w paints, the only other Holbein colors used were yellow ochre, and Chinese orange (Vermillion). The palette creates a very specific, vintage-y vibe which I love.