Update from April's Sketch Fest
I have unfinished sketches piled up on my work desk shelf from all the Sketch Fest events I participated in and it does not please me to have work floating around. I tried to find time to get to them one at a time, but it still feels not often enough and progresses too slowly... all in all, very frustrating. ^^;
I finally got around to ink this angelfish sketch from April 2013. This was done to a prompt, "Black Lace". I got the feeling that the prompter was probably looking for something sexy with a woman in the image with black lace incorporated, but when I thought of the phrase, the image of the angelfish variety known as "black lace" just popped up, and I had a mental image of this lace fish to go after. ^^ I love it when inspiration works like that!
On the other hand, the Enchanted Visions Project's theme for May did not inspire me. It's "Anima Sola" (Latin for "lonely soul"). The notion is steeped in Christianity (Catholic), and it's a rather popular imagery in Mexico and some parts of Italy. Basically, from what little I understand, it's often depicted as a woman with hands in shackles (but the chains are broken), in flames (meant to symbolize purgatory), and looking up at heaven. The concept is it (can be he or she) is a lonely soul in purgatory needing the help (prayer) of both the living and the holy to ascend to heaven.
When a theme gets specific like this, we tend to see the same thing start to pop up from the member artists. This has been predictably so this month with renditions of the typical "woman with dark hair and eyes with flames all around her" being submitted already. Theme like this is a big turn-off for me. I like themes that give us almost nothing to go on, just wide open for interpretation. Like, "Shades of Blue".
Also, the struggle for a balance between commercially successful piece vs. artistically inspired piece for a given theme is something I ponder every month. I see in many member artists a great tendency to deliver pretty, eye candy stuff that seem irrelevant to the theme. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with it. As professional artists we need to paint and draw things that have appeal to the buyers. But I also wonder that the stagnation that I feel about Enchanted Visions as a project itself might have something to do with the themes not being practical for many of the member artists.
After a few hours of scribbling, I'm settling on this one and probably just go on ahead with it. I did a lot of variations in the flowers that were "interesting" to me, but I am concerned that things go a little out of control and started to go astray from the theme. The theme has a message and the challenge is to stay true to that message, and in order to do so, I feel a certain level of adherence to the widely accepted imagery is necessary.
This is just a pencil rough for the concept. I most likely will just work on this very loosely this time. I am just not feeling inspired to spend much time on this theme. ^^; It's starting to feel like a boring homework that I'm only doing it for grades.
I finally got around to ink this angelfish sketch from April 2013. This was done to a prompt, "Black Lace". I got the feeling that the prompter was probably looking for something sexy with a woman in the image with black lace incorporated, but when I thought of the phrase, the image of the angelfish variety known as "black lace" just popped up, and I had a mental image of this lace fish to go after. ^^ I love it when inspiration works like that!
On the other hand, the Enchanted Visions Project's theme for May did not inspire me. It's "Anima Sola" (Latin for "lonely soul"). The notion is steeped in Christianity (Catholic), and it's a rather popular imagery in Mexico and some parts of Italy. Basically, from what little I understand, it's often depicted as a woman with hands in shackles (but the chains are broken), in flames (meant to symbolize purgatory), and looking up at heaven. The concept is it (can be he or she) is a lonely soul in purgatory needing the help (prayer) of both the living and the holy to ascend to heaven.
When a theme gets specific like this, we tend to see the same thing start to pop up from the member artists. This has been predictably so this month with renditions of the typical "woman with dark hair and eyes with flames all around her" being submitted already. Theme like this is a big turn-off for me. I like themes that give us almost nothing to go on, just wide open for interpretation. Like, "Shades of Blue".
Also, the struggle for a balance between commercially successful piece vs. artistically inspired piece for a given theme is something I ponder every month. I see in many member artists a great tendency to deliver pretty, eye candy stuff that seem irrelevant to the theme. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with it. As professional artists we need to paint and draw things that have appeal to the buyers. But I also wonder that the stagnation that I feel about Enchanted Visions as a project itself might have something to do with the themes not being practical for many of the member artists.
After a few hours of scribbling, I'm settling on this one and probably just go on ahead with it. I did a lot of variations in the flowers that were "interesting" to me, but I am concerned that things go a little out of control and started to go astray from the theme. The theme has a message and the challenge is to stay true to that message, and in order to do so, I feel a certain level of adherence to the widely accepted imagery is necessary.
Mitzi, thank you for sharing the symbolism in your images, and about your journeys. My journeys always entail many unexpected rabbit trails. They are always a pleasure to take, though sometimes bewildering at first. Love the angel fish image and would dearly enjoy having something like that in my collection. 30 years ago, I raised angels, and had some very large, beautiful chocolate colored fresh water angels. They had varying "stains" of luminescent blues throughout the "whiter" spaces. So gorgeous and serene. Thank you for your recent visit to my blog. hugs, de
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Thank you, Donna, for stopping by and leaving such kind words! Your angels sound gorgeous.
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