Illustration Friday - Surprise
Apparently with no surprise
To any happy Flower
The Frost beheads it at its play—
In accidental power—
The blonde Assassin passes on—
The Sun proceeds unmoved
To measure off another Day
For an Approving God.
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
drawing/collage - metallic markers and micron pen on white and black bristol
posted by carla at 1:29 PM
77 Comments:
red is my favorite colour, so i'm predisposed to like this illustration anyway...
but truly, your line work is superb. i love the gold detail in her hair, and the blush of her cheeks. brava.
Your detail and design is just beautiful!
WOW! Carla, this method of working on dark paper seems to suit you perfectly. This piece jumps straight to the top of my favorites list among your illustrations. The Emily Dickinson poem is icing on the cake...I love this.
Ohhh really beautiful posting and the details is amazing!!!Congrats Carla :)
Ps is only a visit ;D
Your lady designs are just beautiful I especially like the long necked one your art is hot
Thank you all, very much:>>>> This was an experiment for me and I must say I had such fun with those shiny markers! The parts that look red are actually metallic copper - it really has a lot of shine "in person."
Wow. Very nice. I like the colors, the borders and patterns. Nice interpretation of Ms. Dickinson's poem.
The surprise here... is that this is so dark!
Nice to see the portrait combined with our trusty friend Mr. Sun. What do you see in that flower? Yourself? Maybe not...and that is really the surprise.
As always, very Carla...so lovely!
Smooch,
The Tart
Your work is kind of archaic and funky, and it's like listening to favourite music.
lovely flowered frame...Great work with it. Fantastic sun in the background too.And it's non digital..fantastic real-life illo!
Carla, I love your detail. It is an amazingly gentle style that's so soothing!
Emily would be proud to see her poem illustrated in this fashion!
Think the dark paper also suits your style! Paricularly like the red touches and the centerpiece flower :)
I don't get the part about black and white bristol.
Is there a cut out?
isn't bristol, like thick?
this goes to my second favourite carla, behind your work of last week. the copper must be a nice thing to see, in the flesh , as it were.
I like to think that my painting of last week made you want to pull out the black card. ;)
nice quickie carla.
love scott
carla, beautiful and unique! I hope you don't mind my saying when I stand back it looks like the most beautiful scarf! Or wall hanging made from fabric! love this!!! p.s. as soon as the young man that helps me fix my blog is free from finals I am adding you to my favourites.
You have done it again, great details, and its nice to see all the shiny colours, silver, gold and copper...
hmmm... I just read today on Writer's Almanac that this is E. Dickinson's birthday! what timing!
I love white and metallic on black ... did you notice? :) The decorative quality of your work really shines in this medium. I hope you do another one again soon. (And I also love that it's straight illustration this time with no Photoshop ... am I correct?)
Tiffy & gudbransdottir- thanks! I had so much fun playing with these markers. I'd like to find some with a very super fine point, though.
Alexa & Jody - The woman who's communicating with the flower is the Frost, aka the Blonde Assassin, and her intense communication is really her very impassive decision to "behead" the flower...tough job, but someone's got to do it.
Twissleman, cream & jonesy - I really love Emily Dickinson. I find her musings on life, death, and God very intriguing and often very much to the point despite her somewhat enigmatic diction. I didn't know today is her birthday! That's really cool:>
modrom - Thank you - I like archaic and funky:>>
rubio - yes, this one is all drawing. I just left it as it was.
Thanks, christian!
Val, it does look like a scarf! I think the uneven border adds to that impression.
Thanks, anonymous...I thought it might be fun to explore my "dark side" after I saw your toxic lady:>
Scott, the woman & flower and the sun were done on white bristol. I cut them out and glued them to the black bristol. It is pretty heavy, but not too heavy to cut.
Andrea, your beautiful drawings inspired me to try light on dark. Are your pens also metallic? It's so hard to tell once the drawing is scanned because it seems that just the color comes through. And yes, this is just a straight illustration without photoshop. I usually add some photoshop when I don't have the time to do a background (because the other stuff seems to take forever and I'll be flogged if I spend an entire weekend drawing), but this one didn't need a background. I am definitely going to play around more with thistechnique. I can see how it lends itself to the kind of patterning you do. I would like to find some ultra fine markers so I can do some of the more intricate designs that I like to do in black on white.
The metallic on black looks really cool. Your drawing is earthy and other-worldly at the same time.
Thanks for commenting on my blog. Yes, my banner is new for the holidays. Thanks for noticing.
Simply love it Carla! And those small drawings around! Real nice!
You really have achieved a fabric texture here, if you were striving for that or not. Ms. Dickinson would be proud. :-)
Beautiful! Very intuitive and emotional. You have such a unique approach - always a delight see see your posts... every week is a pleasant surprise!
Lovely work and selection of poetry...ah, Winter does come upon us, does it not?
Very strong contrasts, the borders remind me of henna designs, very nice.
Nice composition, lovely color combination! :)
Carla-
Thanks for the wonderful comments on my entry. You are always too kind. This, as usual, is a beautiful interpretation of the theme. In these days of morning frost, I see the blonde Assassin weilding her icy sword, beheading the flowers at her whim. The question is, who will take the most... the Frost, or the displaced deer who have their dark eyes on my hostas, pansies and everything else in my once lush garden?
Good to see you expermenting girl. Love it!
beautifully design illustration!! I love the black BG, and the composition is very elegant!
Fabulous new direction Carla! I love the contrast with the black. It looks like you had fun playing with the metallics here.
You have personified frost in a more feminine form too - that's a great surprise too.
A lovely poem, Carla.
I really enjoyed the line work in this piece. And how you have given the illustration a 'reverse' effect. A refreshing approach to the subject. I especially like the focal flower. It has a similar feel to some of William Morris's work but different. More edgy.
Cool!
Away with the sweetness and light! This is chilling, with all the poetic reference, and what I see is the lovely and approving Goddess, who could also be the blond assassin, who also has no clue of her power at play! I found smiling sun little creepy… At the first look – this could be just another very happy picture, until you look some more. Lily.
Beautiful design. I am always in awe of the amount of detial you put into your pieces. Just wonderful.
Just happened to be passing thru and saw your illustration - just had a to leave a comment to say how much I like your it, will be checking out your other stuff too!
Thanks for bringing another of Ms. Dickinson's poems to my attention. In light of current ideological/religious wars, I was surprised myself that Blonde assassins were met with God's approval! Or was it the Sun's stalwart progress that was approved? :-)
Nice slant take on the topic.
Thank you, all:> With regard to the poem, Emily Dickinson is commenting on the impassive quality nature has while associating its power ultimately with God. She acknowledges the brutality of nature by calling the frost an "assassin" that "beheads" the "happy flower" while it is at play. Yet the power of nature is "accidental," suggesting that once created by God, it simply functions with neither malelvolent intention nor emotion. This indifference is reinforced by the idea that the sun "proceeds unmoved." By referring to God as "approving," she suggests that the creator has designed nature to work this way, and perhaps suggests that the workings of nature and of God are not within our ability to really understand in terms of our human perspective and emotions.
Your work is so ethereal. I am so impressed. I would have your work hanging in my house. Totally my style. Keep up the beautiful work.
Carla,
This is beautiful. It looks very vintage to me. I especially like the contrast.
PS. Thanks for your comment on my cat. Funny thing...I kinda had myself in mind when I drew it - (it's a birthday thing.)
Awesome illo Carla! It looks like embroidery.
By the way, I am tagging you to do a Childhood Food Meme if you don't mind. Take your time. :)
it can pass as a big capet wall design. i thought so because of the texture and the outline design. i am so amaze with the details.... and it goes well with Emily Dickinson's peom. Beautiful carla!
by the way, i am sick but recovering today and feeling better.thanks...........
ciao carla, thanks for your comment about "max"...a peculiar man indeed,,,the sun in your illo is really lovely...
ooohhh frosty! how cold is it in your parts now?
Great idea with marker. It really makes this piece stand out. Very sharp. Cheers!
Carla I wish a beautifullllllllllll Christmas and Happy New year ;) Im leaving to visit to my family, see you in 2006 ;)
Carla another beautiful piece! The texture reminds me of those velvet paintings with stiching used to create the images. I love the contrast and how sensual she is.
Great line work. Expressive enough to be templates for either stained-glass or as a starting point for chiaroscuro study in engraveings.
So misterious...incredible!
Happy christmas!!
Wow. Very intresting piece. Is the "surprise" the moment of realization that we are small in the presence of God?
The details in the image are beautiful Carla. I love the white lines against the black background.
Beautiful work Carla! It's good to see you're doing art for yourself again (even as an art teacher I find it difficult to make time for art making). This blogging thing can actually be incredibly inspiring too. Keep up the great work!
absolutely love your illustrations - and you have chosen some of my favourite words too
thank you
I'm with floots; I love your illustrations. I think my favorite parts of this are the sun and the flower border. I also really like your choice of the black background for this one. It has a sort of slavic feel all around to me, but I think it's largely due to the border and bg. Wonderful!
Carla, beautiful piece on black! Love Emily Dickinson.
I see from your comment responces you liked working on black. Isn't it great! What kind of paper did you use?
If you have not tried it yet, try Fabriano Ingres black or Arches Cover black. wonderful to work on.
Love your sun faces and the illo suits the poem just right.
So far this illo is my favorite! I love this one.
Nice, Carla.
And hey: thanks for the link/shout-out last week. With your army of friends here, I had a fair number of people come visit because of it.
Take care!
Carla, this is to me, very mystic. Although the image appears to be the sun, but it also seems like the moon against the black background. All these flowers are pointing towards her, and the way her hair is curving in back towards the earth/flowers makes this composition work really well. It's like embroideries on velvet. It's more than just beautiful. I want to adorn it with jewels and precious pearls and gold thread. We should work together!
Excellent piece. The style looks almost embroided! Very cool stuff.
Really nice , well done
Your illustration is good and with the little description or quote or unique captions taken from any book, it makes it more interesting.
Yay Carla- the guardian angel of Illustration Friday!
Go on with your bad nouveau-Aubrey-Beardsley self! You know how I love your hand-drawn illustrations.
Thanks also for noticing my absence. I took a hiatus, but now I am back. I was crafting (knitting mainly) a bit too much to draw. Now I'll have to remember how!
Love the jewel-like feeling of this piece. Perfect reflection of the Dickinson poem.
Very detailed and beautiful design, the metallic markers go well with the black background, very creative.
Hi Carla. This is is very much you and yet also very different. You seem to have the ability to express a wide range of emotiona without moving far from what looks to be your signature style (though not having seen a lot of your art, I don't want to assume). Another intriging, beautiful piece.
This is just so beautiful! I love the sun, the lady and the flower border. The flowers almost remind me of batik printing.
WOW! This work is really beautiful
The black background is essential to give more importance to shapes and details of the front
The general balance is perfect (Can you see the big X that is the master geometrical pattern?)
Very, very nice to my eyes.
I love your intricate and delicate style.
This almost looks like embroidery.
Beautiful work! Looks like a tapestry.
Beautiful and elegant. I like that you have used a black background.
wynlen
This one suits you perfectly, it is my favourite from all I have seen since I started do fly on your blog.
And it is a very soft and exquisite idea for surprise.Beautiful poem...a bit sad but about the unchangeable things which actually make life.
Hi carla! Would you be available to be tagged and talk about your art, the time it takes and the process? please email me when you have a moment. Thanks, valgalwalsh@aol.com
Very mysterious....nice.
Can't wait for your next work.
she's pretty... reminds me of mommy's story last night before i went to sleep. a beautiful lady in a wonderful garden where a bad snake gave her a bad fruit that made her bad... ..
oops. sorry i forgot my link above. ^
Love the detail in the lines. Always so much strength behind it! cheers, thx for dropping by:)
I didn't get a chance to look around much last week...so I missed this one! It is just magical; has an art deco feel to it; love the pairing with the Dickinson poem.
Every time I see this I just blank out and look... wow...
It is so special(you don't need me to tell you that). The three faces reflecting each other each a sun. The work is a beauty!!
this turned out very nice. it looks different from a lot of your other works, but the style change was very successful. congrats
I havn't had much time to go around this week, but glad I came here and enjoyed both the beautiful illustrations and Dickinson!!! my favoreite poetess.
Post a Comment
<< Home