Friday, October 3, 2008

IF - Sugary

Well, it's my second week for Illustration Friday, and I must say that this was a tough one. My work tends to be rather conceptual, and some of the IF topics lend themselves to more literal translations. And that is the main reason that I haven't really done any Illustration topics before. But as I sat and thought about the word "sugary", I immediately thought of cookies - it could have been the sugar cookies that I bought yesterday. But cookies always remind of home and my childhood.

My mom was the head baker at a local grocery store in Washington, Pa., and she is a terrific cook and baker. I still consider her chocolate chip cookies to be the best. But as I thought of my mom's baking, I began to really latch onto this idea of "home". So, I opened my journal and began to draw the house shapes in watercolor pencil, and slowly the page took shape. In the end, the page seems to have very little connection to "sugary", but it was all about the mental and emotional connections that I made to come to the final page. Even when I think of the final theme of "comfort", I think how so much comfort food is the sugary, fatty, delicious stuff. So, this page has a bit of a dark side, because I have always struggled with my weight, and my craving for those comfort foods. Also, I came to the idea of "roots" and the notion that sometimes we are stuck in the past unwilling to uproot ourselves. But that's a whole other idea for another post.

So all in all, it was a challenge, but a good challenge.

9 comments:

Stace said...

When I read your explanation it made perfect sense... Cool artwork. I like the colours you chose.

steve said...

And you certainly met the challenge. It was cool seeing this piece evolve Eric! Love the neutral tones going on here.

Tessa said...

Wonderful, multi layered painting. And I love the story of how the art came about.

ren said...

eric,
you're not alone in conceptual vs. illustrative conflict. I use the IF themes as starting points and then usually go somewhere else completely with them. And my explanations are much like yours...from here to there to somewhere entirely elsewhere :)

nice piece, too.
ren
thecrazyatomorbit.blogspot.com
label: collages to see my stuff for IF

Connie said...

The page certainly ended up warm and comforting.

Kris Loya said...

great page and i love the explanation of your thought process.
Just reading the words 'watercolor pencil' makes me want to dive into some watercolor!
how are u doing? i miss va a lot!

Mixed Media Martyr said...

What a thought process that was! Love your artwork!

Curious Art said...

My images often drift away from the topic, too, but that's part of the fun-- no AD to rein you back in!

Maybe these are gingerbread houses! A striking image in any case.

Dana S. Whitney said...

Sometimes comprehending another artist's thought process is as helpful as learning any "technique." And after all... anything can be an inspiration... it's what we do with it. The piece is really nice.