Drawings @ MindSay

Just Thea trying out the antique furniture. Everything below is based on real designs -- in the Gothic and French Revival styles from 18th and 19th century sources. My ideal "haunted house" is a mix-match of those periods, a sort of fantasy place filled with my favorite things.



I've been meaning to showcase some of my latest creations, but I've been working hard to play catch up with everything and everyone that I draw and paint too fast for me to scan and post on my blog. In fact, the image above is only a preview, really, because it's a poor scan -- an accumliation of several different scans to get one nice image. If you examine the drawing closely you'll see where I had difficulty cutting and pasting in the pieces of the scan. I have recently discovered there is a very large scanner at the university that I've managed to get permission to use. Soon I'll be able to scan and copy my images from the original 14X17 size.



I have to take a moment here to be productive and post a list of what I want to concentrate on next:



1. Finish more Fairy Godmother paintings

2. Draw Alexandre and Thea more (my haunted house characters)

3. Draw something, ANYthing in my sketchbooks each day

4. Research current magazines and book publishers

5. Finish creating new characters for a zombie story

6. Finish writing for Mmlle Lenormand and Tarot decks

7. Figure out where the hell an artist like me can fit in!

Only reason why I'm not published is because I've been too lazy or emotional to find publishers to submit to. So I only have low motivation to blame. Oh, if only someone could do all the financial and business planning for me...


Okay, I must go home and think now.

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Here is my vision of the Tarasque of Provence, the six-legged dragon:

His sensitive face is crowned by a red glowing mane of hair. His eyes shine an impossible pearlescent silver reflecting all who dare approach. He winks a lot. The sunlight makes his eyes, like his mane, seem on fire. His face is human and is in total constrast with his body. He's uncomfortable. He knows he's a monster. He used to like being just that. He made terrible roars and destroyed everything he could sink his claws into. But that was before he met Martha. They were right in thinking she was the very Saint Martha of biblical legend. Only someone saintly can tame the dragon, but her goodness was not enough to calm the angry mob. The Tarasque of Provence's body clearly marks him as evil. He has six bear-like legs, hairy and heavy, tipped with talons that rival the Grizzly. His back is armoured like a turtle's, but is more like a rocky boulder that, when posed near a river (his favorite damp place to be) he appears to be a man peeking from beyond a large rock. On closer inspection,  his hard outer shell seems carved out of water, intricately detailed with swirls and ridges, so beautiful under the waves of the river but so dark and ugly in muddy reality. The strangest thing about his body, and the one thing that greatly displays him as dangerous, is his long scorpion-like tail. Curved into a stinger dripping with poison, he can move this weapon with dexterous ease. But worse than his tail, there is his breath. He breathes fire. His throat is a furnance. Water boils at his touch. Steam growls out of him, especially when he is lonely and sad. Despair ages him. When joy finally chases away the murky clouds of his steam-filled growls, his face becomes youthful again. You would fall in love with him when he's happy. But if only you could see his face -- when he's at his most beautiful -- and see past his body, look past the scales, the hardness of him, the tail about poised to sting, the talons clawing impatiently at the earth, maybe, just maybe you'd see the romance of him. Like Martha. Just like Martha did while clutching her crucifix and holy water. So long ago. In Provence.  But how could people forget the harm he did before he was given peace?  I tell you, I believe the creature knew he was going to be killed.  He gave in to the people's need for revenege.  As soon as he became Martha's pet, he gave up the monster.  Isn't that just like every Catholic legend?  The pagan monster is led, defeated, to church to die.  Poor Tarasque.  Pray for it.

 

Here is the legend of the monster and the saint as described by the Tarascon Village website: A swampy area of the Rhone, was once called niger focus, or "heart of darkness" and this was the Tarasque's home. A later reference called it id est niger locus, or Nerluc. When the Romans arrived, they called the small collection of habitations here Ernaginum, probably from the habitants' ur-naga, reflecting the worship of a primeval serpent or dragon.  Described in 12th-century writings, the Tarasque was of a half-serpent half-lion monster from Gallicia, the ofspring of the ancient-world serpents Leviathan and Onacho.  From out of the bowels of the sea, the Tarasque terrorized the region in the best traditions of unfriendly dragons. Local heroes, including the King of Nerluc and his knights, fought the Tarasque, and perished. Others tied animals along a trail into a deep swamp, near Avignon, with a reputation for being impossible to escape from. But the swamp belonged to the realm of the devil and the Tarasque was a creature of the devil. So when the Tarasque followed the trail of delicious animals into the swamp, it was warned in time to escape the trap.  The Tarasque, however, was not prepared to meet a saint.  Martha (Saint Martha of Bethany) was in Nerluc one market day, to spread the word of her Christian God to the pagan people, where everyone was talking about the dragon. The townspeople challenged her to prove the strength of her religion by subduing the dragon. Martha set out, bare-foot, in her white dress, to find the dragon, with no other weapon than a jar of holy water, and with the whole town following her. At the dragon's lair, Martha held up two sticks as a cross and stopped the dragon as if pierced by a sword. (It's also said she used hymns and prayers to charm the beast.) She sprinkled holy water on the dragon to quench its fire, then used his sharp tooth to cut off her braids and make a bridle to lead the now-tamed Tarasque back to town. The people, still terrified by the monster, attacked it and killed it with a shower of stones. Martha forgave the wretched town's peope, and converted many of them to Christianity. One source has it that Martha's feat with the dragon caused the entire province to converted to Christianity. The citizens errected a new church in honor of Saint Martha and changed the name of the town from Nerluc to Tarascon. The Tarasque is now featured on the town's coat of arms.

But what if there is another story behind this legend of old Provence? What if the Tarasque wasn't the big monster of legend? What if the Martha who tamed him wasn't the Saint Martha but just a nice girl who liked to play with dragons?  Something tells me that the Tarasque is more than what he seems.  And I believe his story should be told. 

One thing's for sure, I now know what the story is behind that six-legged dragon pin I wear each day on my coat. The Tarasque has become my companion. I feel like Martha, but in a more neo-pagan sense. I want to take the dragon back to his swamp, reclaim the land for the Gods. Or something like that. The Tarasque inspires me. Thank you, little dragon, for your fire.

A month ago I finally read Twilight by Stephanie Meyer and I was hooked.  Was it the most intelligently written book I've ever read?  Not really.  But it was like chocolate covered horror romance fantasy and that's something I can easily get addicted to.  Comforting, even.  Stephanie Meyer knows how to appeal to young women and it's about time I fell back in love with vampires again, anyway.  I digress.  Before going out to see the movie, I wanted to record how I saw each character in my sketchbook.  I didn't want the movie to spoil my impression of them or the story.  Looking back at these sketches after I've devoured the series, my impression of the characters has matured, I see their faces more clearly.  Out of all the characters, the main character (and narrator) Bella stands out strong in my mind.  I see her as much stronger than how she was portrayed in the movie (no offense to Kristen Stewart whom I believe is a fine actress).  And, speaking of the movie, I found it lacking, it played out like a cliff notes version of the book, a pale yet entertaining adaptation.

My experiment in sketching the characters as I saw them while reading the book was an exercise in professional judgement for me as a book illustrator. For many years I've been working hard to get the look of characters "just right" so that someday I can accurately interpret an author's work.  Above is a portrait of Emmett and Rosalie JUST AS I SAW THEM IN MY MIND.  I was so pleased with this sketch, I was amazed at my own fingers.  If only I had the chance to illustrate Stephanie Meyer's books... or something.  I dunno.  It's okay to do fan art, as long as I don't get too carried away, right? 

It also doesn't hurt to practice, to stretch my imagination, and give "life" to characters I really care about. I believe a writer is successful if he or she can make me love their characters, otherwise if I don't care about them, I'm not going to buy into a series. Twilight fans will note my misspelling of CARLISLE's name here. I was so busy into the drawing, I just quickly noted the name and scanned in the image without ever noticing the goof. Misremembered name or not, I got pretty close to how I saw him, but I'm definitely pleased with how I captured Esme.

I saw Jasper Hale as whispy, elegant, an 'almost not there' look to him, his eyes deeply set, face young yet tattered with scars you can only notice if you're another vampire. Alice is all over the place, a pixie dervish. They are made for each other. They share a pain and passion you can't shake out of your imagination. No wonder so many of Meyer's readers are in love with Jasper and Alice. I wasn't certain I would capture them right. Maybe I need to draw them again...

And OUT she came at me! Alice leapt out of my hands onto the page, her hand reaching out as if to wipe me away. That's how the concept of this quick sketch came out of me. Just a quick vision that almost left me breathless. At first I wasn't sure this was going to be Alice. But it was the hair spiking outwards, the little vintage 1920's pearl earring, and the slightly amused smile on her lips that told me this was she. The fun thing about doing some "fan art" is that you can get away with it, just let it spill out for fun. And it's more accessible than fan fiction. I'm not forcing you to read a novella. All you have to do is take a peek.

Jacob also popped out from the page. This is how I saw him shortly after he embraced his shapeshifting power. He's wild, scruffy, cute and daring. I can't resist his eyes. They "stare" out at me through the words.

 

I recently read that Stephen King hates Stephanie Meyer. Comparing her to J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, he frankly says, "She can't write worth a darn." What gives? "...it's very clear that she's writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It's exciting and it's thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because it's not overtly sexual," Stephen King went on to say. So I guess he's actually read the books? Or at least the first in the series. Let's just say that Mr. King has never been a young woman. Young women the world over KNOW the books are pure fantasy. Sex is implied, not overt for a reason.  It's the journey to bed that appeals to women, not the in-your-face cock of sensational sex.   

 

J.K. Rowling writes in a different style than Stephanie Meyer and has a completely different agenda with a completely different set of amazing characters, but I tend to find Meyer's writing easy to read.  Her books don't have to be overtly intellectual or philosophically stimulating.  She just entertains well.  Scenes in her books play out like she is inviting us into the vampires' den for a post prom party.  She is all about fun.  In fact, I bet Stephanie Meyer does throw great parties at home. Comparing Rowling to Meyer is like comparing apples to oranges -- you either like both or one or the other. Whatever. Mr. King is all pop horror fiction, too, but my impression is that he appeals mostly to the guys.  He's definitely a guys writer.  He's made millions.  Stephen King doesn't have to write another book to pay for his supper. The only series I loved of his was the Dark Tower series, everything else he wrote is not my cup of tea. I've met Stephen King. He never impressed me. I'm sure he's a nice person, but when I met him I was only 18 and not a fan of his writing and, being honest to a fault, I acted unimpressed, too, when I literally bumped into him at a book signing.  He asked me if I wanted an autograph.  I surprised him by saying, "No." I was more of a Anne Rice vampire junkie and was picking up my copy of The Vampire Lestat! 

 

Oh, well.  Not every reader can please every author, eh? 

I hope you enjoyed my Twilight character sketches.  

 

Random stuff popping in and out of my head lately. Guess I'm just tired.

So before I go to bed I thought I would share this with you. I just finished it!


The Snow Duel by *ForeverKnight on deviantART