Sparkle

I immediately thought of the sparklers we had as kids for the word 'sparkle'. Then I thought how even more 'sparkling' it would be to have a bird magically fly out of the sparkler.

Wisdom

I checked in with Illustration Friday and saw 'Wisdom' as the word for the week. Though not really conceptual in the illustration sense, this painting is of Wisdom the albatross, a wild female Laysan albatross and the oldest confirmed wild bird in the world. I would think that makes her a very wise creature indeed.

Contraption

This year has whirled along with so few IF posts - the new word, 'contraption' captured my imagination. I love the old drawing of a Rube Goldbergish invention, with the guy flying along - then he meets my flying kitty, with her own contraption.

Journey

My favorite poem is "The Journey" by Mary Oliver. I've been doing some duet-like oil paintings with this theme in mind. Thinking of the little wren (or whomever) heading off into the great unknown- beautiful, frightening, doing as Mary Oliver says "determined to do the only thing you could do-determined to save the only life you could save."

Toy

For this week's IF word, 'toy', my thoughts went to a takeoff of the story, The Velveteen Rabbit, where the rabbit became real because of his boy's love. In my version, the toy rocking horse is dreaming of becoming free of his rockers, and galloping off across the heavens.

Resolutions

Well, the resolutions SHOULD be to do more drawings- but....I was thinking the precursor to this is organization, ie, having one's ducks in line. So....here they are. Happy New Year to all of us.

Burning

For this week's word, burning, I reworked a very old illustration, something I've been meaning to do for a long time. It's not done, but getting there. I did the original illustration after my mom died, and was thinking about a takeoff of Greek mythology and the crossing of the River Styx of the newly departed souls. I'm not sure about the burning boat part in Greek mythology, but I think I'm mixing in Egyptian mythology here. The dog is the equivalent of the ferryman and the kind usher to the other side. All a little dark, but somehow comforting too, because the fire would be about transformation, somewhat like the phoenix rising from the ashes.