Since I’ll be an exhibiting Illustrator in the Decatur Book Fair in September, a wrench has been thrown in my plans for Five Pieces. But it’s a huge blessing since this type of event is the best challenge I could face, while I plan for my personal show. Naturally I’ll probably move the date back a few weeks since my husband has just confirmed the in laws will be arriving the week of the original date I chose. But for now the focus is the Book Fair where I’ll be selling a few pieces for children’s interiors and showing my portfolio. I’m so excited to be focusing on illustration full time again.
With that being said I’ve put aside all of my book fair notes to write this month’s blog. I've decided to touch on The Bear and Twins and the newest Fawns and Pear Tree.
I saw a bear somewhere a few months ago and couldn’t stop thinking about him- then I felt like he was the biggest symbol in my life. I wanted him to be Balanced, Tender, and most of all Large. When the thought of him wouldn’t go away I decided he was here for a reason. I put in strawberries for youth that we all possess, robins for the meaning of opportunity and a Magpie to show that I finally get to say something out loud, a symbol of expression for this new thing I’m doing.
The robin presented himself at 3 am when I went to the front door to look for the noisy bird keeping me up and has been a symbol of Opportunity that waits. The twins are literal, and when I think of myself that’s how my twin sister and I look…short bobs, sticky fingers and bare feet. Obviously my child hood comes into play for this piece and when I recall it I can see and smell it. I’ve invested memories in this- Cool ,damp grass, dinner smells floating out as Holly and I scramble back to the house to eat biscuits made by the queen. Naturally we lived in a heavily wooded area- I can honestly say that I touched every tree around the yellow house I grew up in because I thought they were magic. And they all are- I mean remember snow white; in a forest, sleeping beauty; in a forest and especially the Smurfs living in mushrooms in a forest. Any way my point is that you’ll see a lot of trees and forests in Five Pieces as another symbol.
I’m realizing many symbols I choose are coming to me naturally, subconsciously. Symbols were one way to go about the planning of such a large body of work, the other things involved were to think of issues I’ve had in the past with chalkings such as dynamic composition, lighting, and impatience which sacrificed my love of detail leaving me feeling flat when its was done.
The Fawns and Pear Tree were problematic for me. I kept seeing this tree heavy with pears centered by my old play house and the fawns which are so fragile yet resilient. I wanted text to be placed in, text that could easily be interchangeable in a variety scenes over and over again. I’m not sure I’ve completed my thoughts on this piece (even though the art is complete) and whether I’ll place this same verse in another piece to stress the multiple meanings. It’s quite possible I’ll redo this arrangement. I hate the idea of that but its like an itchy toe! You can ignore for so long before you HAVE to scratch it.
SO this is where I've been in this stage of planning. Torn between the book fair and trying to plan this show but also trying to incorporate the two somehow. Biscuit hasn't offered any inspiration on this matter and where is my Corgi? I need an Orangina....
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