illustration | hollyglenstudios

If I had to choose one color medium to work with, watercolors would be my first choice. It has it’s limitations (always protect behind glass/plexi) and may fade sooner that oils, pastels and acrylics if not placed correctly, but I do love their versatility.

There is a spontinaity of attitude and will that watercolors makes me exercise compared to the graphite drawings I like to do. “Winter Brook” is a good example of what I mean. I just kept playing with color and adding depth to pull in different hues that my client wanted.

Then there are times I want the tightness of graphite and also color to show the subject in all the detail wanted. A race horse officianato comissioned a color work of the racehorse Cigar. (Great racer horse but he proved sterile to his investor’s dismay!) So I usually do a two step process where I apply a base of watercolor as shown below with my reference photo.

After I am done with this process then it’s time to go over the entire picture with india ink. This part may take quite a while, depending on the amount of detail.

This is the same style I used for the “Study of a Wood Duck” and the post “Roots Part 1” where I explain the process in more detail.

Wood Duck Study -12″x 16″ watercolor & ink

If you like things in black and white check my new post on Busy Pencils.

What is Christmas Anyway?

I remember teaching from a Christmas favorites book and my piano student asked me why do we celebrate Christmas. So I told him that it is a day to remember the birth of Jesus. He countered with “Who’s he?” I have to admit, I was a bit stunned, but thought maybe he’s Jehovah Witness or something like that and I tried to form a brief answer to the nine-year old sitting on my piano bench. “God sent His Son Jesus to earth to die for our sins. Jesus came as a baby and this is the way we celebrate the event. That’s why it’s a joyful time.”

I wanted to say it’s the most important act God ever extended towards mankind. I wanted to say that when I heard the Christmas story one year, it dawned on me how bad I must have been for God to resort to such extreme measures. I wanted to tell him how much joy there is in believing that God wants the relationship between mankind restored and that it can be – and has been for so many.

But I figured parents pay me to program their children to learn piano – not preach to them or give a testimony, so I did keep the answer “bare bones.”

Not enough.

The parent talked with me about his plan to raise his son with no exposure to religion. When piano books are riddled with “Silent Night” and “Away in the Manger” it’s hard to ignore the reason for the celebration. It doesn’t matter, he had chosen the book and the child picked the song and I respectfully listened. But inside I thought, “It’s like going to a party but you don’t know who it’s for.”

God – the greatest Visual artist

Proof#1

I am glad our God is bigger than our opinions – and our imagination. Who else, other than God, would think to stoop to the level of a baby in a manger to paint the word “LOVE.”

All our altruistic depictions are nothing more than adaptations of “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” You must admit, Hollywood falls way short of inspiring in how it portrays love. I”ll take God’s definition any day.

It would be interesting to know:

How would you depict love in visual form?

until then – “Have a Joyous Holy-day!