Illustration Friday: Hierarchy

Hierarchy (c) 2009 Nahellenia

In the midst of the worst
in the midst of the best
sometimes leading the pack
most times stuck with the rest

At the top of the hill
with the world at my feet
or with knees on the ground
by a better on beat

In the midst of the good
in the midst of the bad
sometimes doing my best
most times acting so mad

This is life every day
is the way it should be
all are king for a time
yet slaves eternally

I grew up in a large mixed family and there was always someone who had done something before me and someone who would do it after me. It made me a lot more conscious of the idea of being average - knowing that there was always something or someone better or worse. Hierarchies are a part of life but for the most part they serve a clear purpose.

I just wish it was easy to know that even the king is slave to his people (or his tyranny) and the slave is mastered only by him who he gives his soul; not him who owns his body. So here's to my family hierarchy and the knowledge that being the third last in line is no different from being first or last.

Weekly Writing Wreck

It has all begun to blur together.

One story, two stories, five stories, oh my! But I never thought that was the problem I was going to have. Writing 2,000 words of fiction a week is easier than I thought (especially in comparison to the 8 - 15,000 words of non-fiction I write) and there are many weeks when I exceeded that and then some. So what is making it feel like the same boring old stuff again?

I haven't stopped writing but for the past couple of weeks its been a challenge to come up with anything to write about. Even editing old stuff doesn't seem to work. It could be a phase I will get over (hopefully soon :-( ) so I can go back to being 'normal'.

I'll just be a writing wreck until that happens...ouch!

Illustration Friday: Impossibility?

I have a memory of loving purple skies. I don't know why (among all the colours available to me) I liked purple most of all. It might have been an act of self-expression or perhaps something else - like maybe I'd lost all the other colours and the only thing I had left was brown, orange and purple. And if I was going to have a brown tree with orange flowers it didn't really leave me a choice.

But the thing I liked most about it is that nothing was ever impossible. So in a bid to recaptrue that memory I did a picture I used to like when I was a child. It was oddly more difficult to remember it and do it 'right' but I loved the idea of a purple sky which automatically came with a green sun, a polka dotted cat and a zebra striped house.

It maybe a natural impossibility but I guess it goes to show there are no limits to the creative mind. Whatever I can envision, I can create. It makes life seem so much richer. Not only can we pull from the great storehouse of what is already there and already beautiful to behold but we can take it a little further and make it our own.

That's why I will always love my art - even when it is a little strange to look at. So hurray for yellow trees and checked roofs and the chance to do some things a little differently.

Illustration Friday: Fleeting

Have you ever tried to hold water in your hands? For a while it looks like you can...and then the moment passes and it's easier to understand why someone somewhere thought of glasses.

Illustration Friday: Talisman

Love (c) 2009 Nahellenia

one little rose, three little words
a chance to show what we can
wide as the ocean: free as the birds
this is a lover's talisman

Symbols of love are never more important than when they are applied in a timely fashion. I have never found anything that speaks to the magic and miracle of falling and love (and staying that way) than the rose. It is talisman to those who use it - imbuing them with the power to say things they might otherwise not, do things they might otherwise falter at.

I think that is why we have roses, beautifully scented, wonderful to behold and yet with just the right number of thorns to remind you that love can also sting.

Drawing Hand

The means, the method and the magic.

I love the pencil. I think it is both a means and the magic behind a creative endeavour. I did this drawing several years ago while working with Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (Edwards, 1992). It's about as far as I got but I think this was a good effort.

I thought of posting the drawing for IF (and heralding the pencil as a talisman of great power) but I feel it isn't enough and because it isn't current it inspires a sense of laziness I do not want to encourage. So I'm still working on that post but figured I'd share this one anyway.

Illustration Friday: Poised

Poised to strike...and poised to sing.

It's a good thing not to judge a IllustrationFriday prompt before the week is over. When I first saw the word POISE, I thought, "These people are trying to kill me." But now that something has come to mind it isn't so bad. I only wish something keeps coming to mind and it is within my capacity to produce it. Because my first idea just wasn't.

To those professional illustrators and artist out there, "What do you do when something is clear in your head but isn't so clear in the outcome?"

Illustration Friday: Subtract

Subtract (c) 2009 Nahellenia

daylight turns to dusk
dusk descends to darkness
sunshine subtracts slowly
left to linger in moonlight
a thousand stars beckon
a thousand crickets sing

dawn gives up the darkness
light comes back again
morning blooms and all is bright
and birds begin to sing
so the day is born again...

subtract it from your life

I did this in my (quickly becoming) favourite style. I did the dark ground in grafite dust then slowly added the definition by erasing it away the sun and the hightlights in the water and sky. The dark tones were added with a pencil then highlights subtracted with the same eraser technique.

Legendary Phoenix

I haven't had time to do my illustration for this weeks IF but that was because I was doing a different kind of art - this time I was the canvas instead of the artist and I now have a LEGENDARY Pheonix permanently etched into the skin of my wrist. It was done on Thursday and the picture was taken immediately after it was complete.

Meaningful and magical, the phoenix has featured in many myths about its origin and symbolism check out http://www.santharia.com/bestiary/phoenix.htm. It also has significance in every major religion and ancient civilisation and was not only a sign of eternity and rebirth but also rising our of adversity.

The sight I love for tattoos is Tattoo Tribe and their explanation for each tattoo is very comprehensive. While I loved their ideas, they are a bit complicated and I wanted something small so I chose a rather simple line version. I think it came out really well.

It is inspiring and beautiful and since it is part of my spiritual development, I think I am on the right track. Here it is...

Illustration Friday: Intricate

I don't think I can say anything about this one other than check out the intricacy of the weave. It was not only intricate in its creation (READ: I couldn't find a shortcut to save my life) but in its crafting in real life.

Baskets like these are constructed from a reed that was initially considered an environmental hazard. Now they are part of a thriving craft industry.

My Happy Birthday

It's my birthday and the joy of seeing another year go by is tempered by the reality of...another year going by. If I want to be something wonderful when I grow up, I think it might be time to start thinking of what that something is going to be. Writing and painting, drawing and research might fill my days right now but there is something missing and I don't really know what it is.

Perhaps this is the year I finally figure it out. It is after all the start of something new...and that is always a little wonderful no matter how you look at it.

Happy Birthday to me!

Illustration Friday: Breezy

Getting an idea is only as good as how soon (and well) one can use it. It's taken me very long to put this one into effect. But I think it is a good effort. Trying to get the pencil as dark as possible was rather difficult but with a little more pressing I think I got it. I should probably try editing it once it is scanned but that has to be a job for another time.

It is interesting to note that I had done something else earlier - this rough sketch for a possible painting came really quickly - and I think it has suitable potential for something in colour down the line.

Thinking in pictures is getting easier...me thinks!