To Begin It...

For some reason when I was thinking of a title for my first blog, “and now to begin it” came to mind and then the poem by Lewis Carroll in the very beginning of Alice in Wonderland:

Imperious Prima flashes forth Her edict 'to begin it': In gentler tone Secunda hopes 'There will be nonsense in it!' While Tertia interrupts the tale Not more than once a minute.

Being that this is my first post, and that I gain much of my inspiration from literature, I thought it apt. And I promise nonsense will be "in it" ;)

Ok. So this is the beginning of my new website and blog. Here I will attempt to document the goings on in my pursuit of fortune and fame in the precarious world of art and literature. I exaggerate. Really, I'll be sharing what I'm working on, ideally weekly, such as artwork, shows, writing, etc. as a way of keeping readers informed of what's happening in my world.

I've only recently started working on drawings and illustration again, in an effort to bulk up that part of my portfolio. And because I have some children's stories that need artwork re-dos. Here is the first from my story "Sam the Sea Monster". A catahoula puppy/sea monster mix, you ask? Yes, I reply. Because we used to call our puppy "sea monster" and it seemed a funny contrast and obvious children's book subject.

I also love work that involves research for accuracy. I learn things, as in the case of my illustration for The Lazy Beauty and Her Aunts, I learned about spinning wheels from the medieval to colonial times. Foot pedals were added later; originally, the spinner used a stick to keep the wheel spinning. I also got quite a bit of practice at drawing Celtic knots from that project.

I worked on a symbolic illustration this week as well and I am sorry to say that it did not turn out the way I'd hoped. Sometimes in art this happens and you have to know when to trash the project. It became...depressing, and that is not an emotion I'm going for in my work. Sign one that it's total garbage, wrong direction, thank you but try again...

Hmmm...I'm not sure there was enough nonsense, so I'll leave you with a poem snippet: from William Allingham:

Up the airy mountain

Down the rushy glen,

We daren't go a hunting

For fear of little men;

Wee folk, good folk,

Trooping all together;

Green jacket, red cap,

And white owl's feather!

Well, that ought to fill the nonsense quota for the day.

#art #illustration #drawing #symbols #fairytales #literature #poetry #nonsense