Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Illustration Friday: Wings

Amazing that the picture I've been working on actually fits for this week's Illustration Friday Topic.  How often does that happen?  (answer: never) I'm not really satisfied with it.  I didn't do the wings right (or at least the one on the left).  I wasn't impetuous about this either--I made sketches, I had it all mapped out.  It actually sat for a couple weeks while I contemplated it. After I was "done" (see the version below) I thought it might be better to not have it there at all, but alas, that's not right either.......

Angels were depicted playing nyckelharpa in churches, on old tapestries in Sweden.  Devils played the fiddle.  Why should one instrument be considered the Devil's instrument, and others belong to angels?  Why is the harp considered a heavenly instrument?  Is it because it is impossible to make a raucous sound on it?  People like raucous sounds, though.  As far as fiddling and the Devil goes, my impression is that they're associated because fiddlers become obsessed with it.  All they want to do is play and play, and not work at all.  Also, fiddlers play dance music, and everyone knows that the Devil is behind dancing.  But the nyckelharpa players I know are just as obsessed as the fiddlers, and are just as likely to prompt unrestrained dancing.

10 comments:

  1. This is interesting. I'm hoping you'll do more angels. I like your goauche technique with your dancers too. Very cool.

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  2. This is really impressive!!! Great that it coincided with IF theme. The funny thing is, I sometimes just draw anything and start the development into the theme half way through!

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  3. I really like this crosshatching technique! I'll have to give it a try :D

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  4. This is a wonderful drawing, no matter if the second wing is right or not. Wings are so tricky anyway and especially in angels.
    What a funny kind of instrument a nickelharpa is! I have never heard about them before. Your post made me look it up in Wikipedia and there are actually Nickelharpa Days in a castle in Germany where I live once a year.

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  5. Wonderful drawing and intersting story behind it. Thank-you

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  6. Hya, well I think we all want to be a little devil for a while, and then get saved so we casn have our fun and eat it too :) Both these images are humming but I like the second one so much better - is it more stretched out? and that sense of illumination and glow, and even the smattering of black spots ! You know, I work on an image and if it doesn't fit the IF prompt I cheat :)

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  7. ahh the second one has another wing - :) call me observant :)

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  8. I think the second wing works just fine. Sometimes, we look too long at our own work. Fresh eyes see it better. I had trouble imagining wings that I could draw for my Illustration Friday attempt. (Image not yet uploaded, but soon will be). In the end, I imagined some serious cloud cover. I agree with Andrew....cheating works. :)

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  9. I think too, that the second wing is fine! This is really a great drawing, either way, love the hatching and splatters and the strange atmosphere!
    Drawing accidentally IF prompt has never happened to me, but sometimes I have cheated... a little! ;)

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