This illustration had quite the long and winding road. I started it two years ago, as a response to Hurricane Katrina. I couldn't get it where I wanted it to be, so I abandoned it. But I brought it with me when I moved from DC to Cincinnati (it was damaged a bit in the move) and when I set up my drawing table in my new apartment, this got taped up, sort of off to the side. That was a year ago. I've fiddled with it a few times since then but didn't have any breakthroughs. Then came this week's Illustration Friday topic, and I knew the time had come to revisit this constant presence on my drawing board. I'm still not entirely satisfied with it (too busy on the left? Maybe I'll eliminate some of the frills and just keep the white birds and the kokopeli-like sax player on a mottled blue background.) But thanks, IF, for getting me to finally "finish" this piece!
love the background on this
ReplyDeleteI love the general look of the piece. The sound coming out of the sax and the bird touching make it a bit confusing visually. Are the birds coming out of the sax? Or is that just sound plain and simple?
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, nice feel and colors.
Nice interpretation
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments! Christine, thanks for the feedback. In my mind, both the birds (yes they're birds, and yes, they're emanating from the saxophone) and the music notes symbolize hope. I think maybe the music notes aren't necessary, since the sax gives that impression on its own, and the birds convey the hope aspect. I'm thinking of letting a lot of the patterning fall back into the background more or disappear completely. I'll play around with this more. In any case, thanks for sharing your thoughts! I always appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI love the texture and the swirliness f it all! Is that chalk pastel?
ReplyDeleteit is quite spectacular.
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