Petty Officer John Shaw Torrington

While reading my current book (Helen Humphries' Afterimage), I was reminded of a tale that captured my imagination as a child. The story (click for a pretty good summary of the events) of Franklin's third expedition into the Arctic held all the drama and tragedy of the most engrossing novel, plus there were the mummies. I was fascinated by mummies of all kinds, but the faces of the buried sailors from Franklin's crew were particularly intriguing. The cold preserved their bodies to an incredible degree, so much that the mummies still had their eyes nearly intact.

This image of young sailor John Torrington is so haunting, it's no wonder that, after nearly 15 years it has never left my head. As soon as I read the passages in Afterimage that referenced the Franklin expedition, I got the urge to draw him, and I'm quite happy with how the sketch turned out:



I'm considering bringing some tragic, frozen sailors into the cast of my next show, so this most likely isn't the last you'll see of John and his ilk on this blog (in fact, I expect you'll see a watercoloured sketch of this very piece quite soon).

Ah, nostalgia - sometimes you're ever so useful for inspiration!

See? Houses!

Another strange set of items from the weird world of R. W. Brackley, an amateur Victorian scientist and intrepid marine explorer whose many curious discoveries stunned the world in the late 1800s, but were then lost in dusty London archives for over 100 years. He's also the main character of the next project (see? More info is trickling out - gradually, but it's coming!).



Seahouse (n) - pronunciation: /si:haus/
Formations nearly identical to human-built Victorian houses, found sprouting out of the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Spain. First thought to be strange rock formations, but later classified as coral-like organisms due to observed feeding behaviour.







See? Houses! Seahouses!

#80: A Practice Celebration

Well then.

It seems as if I have reached my 80th post since it all started just over two years ago with some clothes-wearing bears. Back then I'd just gotten back into regular art production, having left it behind for four years while I studied English literature at university. Though I'd never really liked watercolours much before, they were the only colouring method I had on hand, so I picked them up and man - I've not looked back since.

Two-ish years, two shows and most likely more than 100 paintings of strange creatures later, watercolours are my dearest friend, providing me with glorious washes and intricate detail and the most curiously luminous colours a girl could ask for. So thanks for being you, watercolours - thanks a bunch!

Phew, That was more than enough sentimentality, don't you think? To cut the sugar of my ode to art & watercolour-y goodness, allow me to show you some sketchbook experiments I've been performing in recent weeks.

The subject?

PEOPLE.



Can you even believe it? Look around you! These are PEOPLE in Victorian clothing! No animals in sight!!



I made the tough (for me...people are way more intimidating to draw than animals/birds/etc.) decision to have the main characters for the next show/book be Victorian humans, as they'd give me more leeway in the curious creatures their imaginary studies could cover (on that note, there will be more detail about my current project coming in future entries...man, I'm excited for this one!!).





These characters are all culled from Flickr, which holds a rich collection of scanned vintage photographs, many of which contain the most incredible faces - stunning beards, whimsical moustaches, elaborate hairdos and glorious noses abound, along with a plethora of delectable dresses, waistcoats, military jackets and suits, everything providing fodder for a whole new artistic direction!





After making myriad sketches, I've developed just enough confidence to begin transferring my favourite faces over to watercolour paper, where they'll eventually become pieces for the next show. Below is a wee timeline of one such piece:



This is the sketchbook version of an as of yet unnamed woman, dressed in the regalia of a secret society (which you will hear more about in later entries!).



And here's the current progress of the 'good copy' - initial washes complete, ready for layers and miniscule detail!


So that's a peek into my sketchbook's most recent denizens - please do stay tuned, as I have another entry coming up quite soon, which will contain more peeks into the new project as well as a few more details about the project's theme and such.

Poster'd

So I started working on the poster I blabbed about in this post - I was surprised to find that the huge expanse of paper hardly frightened me at all, and the layout of the thing progressed quite smoothly.

Here's the initial pencil sketch:



And a close-up of the mysterious Josiah Carp, an extremely fishy fellow:



Since I neglected to photograph the ink alone, we now skip to a couple of terrible phone-camera shots of the first layer of paint:





I'm pretty darn thrilled with this so far - it's crazy sometimes thinking about how far I've come since last summer, when an 8" x 10" piece scared the crap out of me.

In The Meantime...

There will be a few more Victorian portraits coming (stories included), but in the meantime, here are a couple sketches I did while supposedly listening in a lecture (it's a bad habit, I know).

Here we have a slightly creepy elephant shrew...



...and a quizzical monkey-dude!

Sketchy

Some assorted sketches...


He says "ARGH."


It's true - they're kind of freaky.


Shrew train, much furrier than a soul train.


The hare is a particularly alert creature.


Anteater portrait.


Captain Sloth, ready to set out on his rickety boat.