Creatively Tapped

Currently, three of my original pieces are hanging in a staff art show at my work. The show is entitled "Creatively Tapped" which was the suggestion I made of why I should be involved in picking a show name. The other artists on the planning committee found the comment funny, fitting and somewhat ironic and my mouthy retort became a show.

Sprites of Midway, Too Fond of Books and Litany Against Fear will be hanging for one more week in the gallery. Prints of these pieces are available at my Etsy store: Currant Thoughts.

Lo, they do call me

The depiction of Yggdrasil was inspired by a carving from the Hylestad stave church door, circa 1175. The door depicts scenes from the story of Sigurd, in this scene Regin sleeps and Sigurd roasts the dragon's heart and burns his finger. The original carving places Sigurd and Regin at the base of a beautiful and smooth curving tree. The birds are original to the carving but the roots and the serpent Níðhöggr were added from my imagination. I chose to keep the illumination a subtle mix of browns which is both reminiscent of the carved wood of those ancient doors and appropriate for the gravity of the piece

The text for this page was inspired by the Risala of Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, a 10th century Islamic traveler who first-hand witnessed a Rus ship burial and wrote about what he saw. During that burial, a slave girl is sacrificed with her lord. Shortly before she is killed, she speaks this brave prayer which was translated to Ibn Fadlan as he watched the burial ceremony. This particular version of the prayer text is used in the movie The Thirteenth Warrior and is a poetic interpretation of the many translations of the Risala.

The pseudo-runic font I found on the title page of a 1908 printing of The Elder or Poetic Edda. To date, this is one of the better runic illusionary runic fonts I have found.

The text reads:
Lo there do I see my father
Lo there do I see my mother, my sisters and my brothers
Lo there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning. Lo, they do call me, they bid me take my place among them, in the halls of Valhalla, where the brave may live forever.

Prints are now available at my Etsy store, Currant Thoughts.  The prints measure 4.5 X 6.5 inches and are matted in brown to 8 X 10 inches.

Special thanks to my Asatru heathen friends Brad Taylor-Hicks and John Beale who consulted with me and helped to consider which version of the text would have the best, and most appropriate, appeal. Also, thanks to Hunter Masters, my resident source of Norse mythology and symbolism.

Don't Blink: Weeping Angel Illumination

Continuing in my series of illumination for geeks I picked what is, in my opinion, the creepiest villain the Doctor Who series has ever created.

Weeping Angels...

Prints are now available in my Etsy store Currant Thoughts just in time for holiday shopping... or scaring the crap out of your friends and family.

This was a bunch of fun to create. I especially enjoyed playing with the twining ribbon around the frame and the angel itself. As for the hand at the bottom, well, there is a few hours of my life I won't get back. Hands = no fun ever.

Last night I finished a Norse inspired piece so I hope to have that up in a few days.

Butterfly Pumpkins: In the spirit(s)

Swallowtail pumpkin

I made these for work- as they decay, butterflies will feed upon the fermenting juices of the pumpkins making these not just decorations, but also an alternate food source.

They are also a source of humor. The butterflies drinking the fermented pumpkin juice get quite drunk until they can no longer fly. They stagger about but keep going back for more. It looks suspiciously like Ybor City at 3am on a Saturday. Yes, yes. I know. I'm likely a terrible person for finding this funny but trust me, it is hilarious to watch. I will try to get some video to post later.

Generic butterfly pumpkin

To carve these pumpkins I used a commercial kit tool not unlike a vegetable peeler and some wood carving tools. The surface is peeled away to various depths but the pumpkin is not cut open and hollowed out which slows down the rotting process. I imagine that some leather working tools could also be rather useful and may try something more intricate for next year.

Fear is the mind killer

I have illuminated a sand worm. In typing that sentence I may also have written a totally original and never before written or read combination of words in the English language.

The design is based upon cover art from an old paperback volume of the novel Dune by Frank Herbert. The text is the ‘Litany Against Fear’ from the novel.

This piece will be the first in a series of fine art for geeks. I plan to cover several worlds of science fiction and fantasy as well as some notable quotes which may be of interest to the science and history minded.

4x6 Watercolor gouache, ground mineral pigment, shell gold and ink on Bristol.

Prints are available in my Etsy store, Currant Thoughts.

Next on deck: Illuminating a weeping angel and a tromp l’oeil illumination inspired by the Nasrid plaster carvings and Kufic script of the Alhambra in Grenada.