By Imagination We Live

By logic and reason we die hourly;

by imagination we live.

                                    --William Butler Yeats

Although the Signed, Sealed and Delivered show is over at Fuller Lodge Art Center, I want to share another of my pieces that was in the show. The other two were altered postcards, and are talked about here and here. I turned in this piece a bit late (the day before they hung the show, in fact) and in my hurry forgot to scan it. It's a two-sided piece of 4 postcards grouped together. 

On the front side, the four hang together as a whole while also being distinctly unique artworks:

By Imagination We Live, Front, mixed media, 8"x12", 2014

While the back is more individualistic in nature and features 4 different artworks:

By Imagination We Live, Back, mixed media, 8"x12", 2014

All in all, I ended up creating 8 pieces of art for this one work, and it really helped me push myself. I was under a time constraint to get it all done in time, but with the separate postcards I also got to jump in and explore some different techniques. Combining painting and drawing is definitely the path I'm currently traveling and this piece (particularly the back) let me break in some new ideas. 

By Imagination We Live, Detail

I'm finally admitting that I love the idea of illustrating fantastical landscapes and people, er, fairies. In the above detail, I had so much fun imagining and painting a tiny floating island and towers with a bridge resting on the leaf. I'm also taking a short workshop on cartooning right now, and it's broadened my scope significantly. I can't wait to try out more ideas!

By Imagination We Live, Detail

Adding the little details throughout the 4 front pieces was something that made me grin as I inked them in. The little tiny ladder going up the middle of the leaf takes time to spot, and adds dimension to the leaf itself.

By Imagination We Live, Detail

This is the start of something quite important for me at the moment: handwritten text partially obscured by acrylic, with drawings and doodles over (and under) it all. Heartwood Dream, currently in the Fuller show is done in a similar manner.

By Imagination We Live, Detail

This postcard was my wildcard. I really didn't know where I was going to go with it, and ended up obscuring the little bit of text that was on it under several layers of paint. I almost randomly placed the map (blue) collage pieces, and was finally inspired by their shape and size, and the yellowy white glow in the center, to create the final image. I usually go into a piece having a pretty clear idea of what I want to have happen, at least in the overall final image, but this one proved to be confidence building because I really like how it turned out despite not having any clue about what to do when I started.

Thanks for letting me prattle on about my art!