Monday, May 21, 2012

Digital Watercolors- Pterodactyl Waterfall

I did this for the conference as well- or something similar. I got a critique, and so have changed the image some from the originally submitted piece. I flipped it, to keep the movement going left to right (as it is now), I enlarged the pterodactyl to push its wing tips off the sides of the pages to really make it seem BIG, and I pushed the contrast between the shadowed background and highlighted foreground (i.e. the pterodactyl itself) to really make it pop as much as I could. What was fun was that I brought in a natural media watercolor abstract that I've been working on, and found the composition in it by digitally inking on it, adding more color, darkening areas, etc. It's definitely a very specific style, but I really liked working this way, and may play more with other abstracts in the future.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Digital Watercolors- The Chickens Are Out!

I'm working on some new portfolio pieces for a conference on Saturday.  This is the piece I finished on Monday.  Done digitally, with line work in Paint Tool Sai and color work in Artrage.


Sunday, May 6, 2012

Poem- Form and Function



Form and Function



One of the great joys
in tending to a tree
is that form still follows function. 
Many people hack at a tree.  They want
a certain affect, and so deliver
aesthetic wounds.

The long,
sinuous
line
of a trunk
speaks to
elegant health.
And the removal of twigs
unhealthy to a tree
add to its beauty.  To open the center of a tree,
and let it breath freely, to remove scale
and disease, is to reveal
the powerful chest of a plant
most likely older than yourself.  And much as they might tell you
if you were studying words, or books, or science, or theorems,
it is the elegance of a tree’s beauty
that leads
to the smoothest, strongest function.



1/16/12

Poem- Bending the Knee



Bending the Knee



You have to learn to how to bend the knee
to become a gardener.
If you want to plant a flower
you need to open the earth.
And if you want
to remove weeds
you have to start at the ground.
Only a fool tries to weed standing up.
Even the old
get down on their knees
to tend to the needs of soil.