Gold and Jade are especially favored among the Chinese. The gold ginko leaves (ginko trees are also know for its longevity) across a background of green is to symbolize abundance in health and wealth for the new year. There are 15 days to the Lunar New Year celebration but typically the first 3 days are the most celebrated. In celebration of the festive season, this is a post for Day 3 and this will be my last post for the celebration.
Title: Heart and Soul Medium: illustration pens on sketch book paper Style: surreal Category: illustration Created: Dec-Jan 2024-2024 Artist: Stephen J. Vattimo Heart and Soul This is preliminary drawing for a painting I am about to begin. The concept for this illustration started as a design for a pumpkin carving contest. I feel the message of the design is so important for people to hear, I decided to make it into a painting. The original design, done in pen and ink. The design only shows the two doors of the entrance to a fortress. It was designed for a live pumpkin carving event in mind. At this type of event, the carver must create their piece of art live on site with spectators watching and asking questions, and there is a time limit. The evolution of the design? I added a wall on each side of the entrance, with matching pillars. Explaining the design of the pillars The triangle top: the triune God. Representing three persons of God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. The cross shape opening in the pillars: The cross is the only path to God, to have the debt of sin satisfied. To reconcile humankind back to himself. To be released from being a slave to the Devil. To be a new creation empowered by God Spirit. Explaining the design of the entrance way(gate) The top of the entrance is in the shape of a heart, represents the seat of human passion, ambition, and allegiance. The cultic three petal flower is used to represent God in three persons united. The symbol inside the flower: God’s ministry toward humankind. Crown: Highest authority Cross: God’s loving salvation and restoration plan. The dove: Spiritualty made alive, fellowship with God, empowerment to weather the storm of life, and equip for service to God. Change in the design of the door. In the original design, one door had roses carved on it. The pattern took up the whole door. The other door had a grape vine carved on it. The pattern took up the whole door. I modified the emblem on the doors by making them smaller and simplified, so I could place them inside heart shapes, so the new images would more clearly communicate what they are meant to represent. I also added color to the emblems(color pencil) to make them clear of what they are, because of their size and the ink medium ,they were hard to interpret. Understanding the symbol of the two doors. The door with the rose inside the heart emblem represents a heart whose passions, ambitiousness, allegiance are focused on the cares, worries, and abstaining riches of the world. Only giving God lip service. I chose the rose to represent the heart of spiritual allegiance to the world, because roses are pretty, but you can’t eat them to nourish your body. They also have thorns that can cause injury to the body. So, the parallel point is, just as flower fade and turn to dust, so will the person who chases the thing of the world and has no time for God. For life is very short, we know not which will be our last breath on this side of eternity. But if a person leaves this earth without excepting the gift God offered them which is salvation from penalty of sin and given enteral life through the work that was done on the cross by God’s son. Then that soul will appear before Jesus, and just as they did not know him in their life on earth, He will tell them he knows them not. Into the lake of fire, they will spend eternity. The door with the grape vine in the heart emblem represents a heart whose passions, ambitiousness, allegiance are for God. To know Him intimately, to obey His teachings, to serve his will. I chose the grapevine to represent the heart of spiritual allegiance to God, because grapes are nourishing to the body. Jesus also used a grape vine in one of his parables. He paralleled the spiritual relationship he had with his disciples and the grapevine. He told them just as branches of a vine must depend on the base of the vine to live and bare fruit, so they must abide him to have abundant life. Abiding in Christ is not a religious act. It is outside of religion. It is an intimate relationship. Example: you can belong to a fan club of Paul McCartney and know a lot of things you have heard about him, but he doesn’t even know you exist. Where, if Paul is your father, and you have a good parent to child relationship, then you know him intimately. So, abiding in God, we commune with him through read his word and living by its teachings. It is spending time in prayer. Sharing our hearts with God and spending time listing to him. Trusting in him as our provider and giving thanks for his provision. Living our lives, with the purpose of pleasing him with the work of our hand and loving our neighbors in the workplace as well as in the community. Just as a healthy grapevine continues to grow and produce much fruit. Having an imitate relationship with God should be more and more evident in the way we live our lives. So, when the angel of death pays you an unexpected visit, he escorts you to Jesus’s throne, you know for certain he going to welcome you with loving arms and said welcome home my faithful servant. Now to which door I chose for my life? It’s the one that is open. This bible verse one of a couple that inspired me to design this illustration. 1 Corinthians 3:12-13 King James Version 12 Now if any man builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. 13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. This verse is not referring to the rebellious people who have rejected God, this is referring to people who are children of God, who failed to serve God faithful. Written by Stephen J. Vattimo. 3 Jan 2024 .
The woman in the window is wearing a pink dress. Next to her is a brown stand with complimented with decor on each shelf. There’s some keys hanging on a hook on the wall with a basket below. The clock shows that’s it’s 7:00. She’s looking out the window, and there’s some trees with colorful leaves which means the season is Autumn. To me Autumn is the perfect season for romance.
Lino cut prints. Practice copies. I ended up removing the leaves and making them on a separate piece of lino.
One of my favorite pieces,mainly cause of the colored pencils and markers. Mugman admires my fan character Suzy Saucer as she strolls through the autumn leaves.
I take a lot of Genesis as an allegory for birth and maturation, both individually and collectively. The Garden of Eden could easily be interpreted as the womb, and we are all cast out of it at some point. Genesis 2:24 says "This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh." Though people use this passage to refer to the tradition of marriage, I think that it speaks to something much, much deeper than that. Literally, when two people copulate, they create a child that is of one flesh. They do not "become one flesh" because they engage in a ritual institution and are now "to be viewed as comprising a single identity," but they literally become one flesh because their genetic compositions are joined into a new being (Mark 10:8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”). That being said, I read somewhere once that babies born in every part of the world make phonetic sounds from pretty much every language in the world. It is only after a period of time that they start to key in on certain sounds that the people around them are making, and it is only after that that children key in enough to start developing more advanced language skills (typically). However, in this original state, there is a freedom. There are no assumptions. There is an innocence in that state. There is a lack of judgement. There comes a point at which babies/young children begin to mimic and to incorporate what they are experiencing from the creatures around them into themselves. To small creatures with an undeveloped sense of self or reality, the caregivers around them may as well be gods, at least from their perspective. They will learn from these gods around them and will begin to embody their cultural beliefs, their language, their idiosyncrasies, and their perceptions, often on a deeply unconscious level. Adults contribute to that quite thoroughly and somewhat consciously. (Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness..") (Genesis 11:7 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.) In our own way as individuals, we are each a Tower of Babel, and at some point, for each of us, that Tower fell. Barriers to communication of so many kinds were created for and/or by us. Perhaps we still spend time constructing new barriers and thinking up new ways to distance ourselves from the rest of our kind. I chose to use the phrase "materialism" to express how children engender these attributes of caregivers and others alike. However, this can easily be exchanged for a phrase like "socialism," or "corporate capitalism," or nearly any other thing that you can probably think of. Children are like sponges. They soak up even more than we realize. Most widespread religions in the world have some form of renunciation belief or ritual wherein an individual must 'cast off' the old self and put on the new. This is because, regardless of where or when a child is born in the world, the perspectives of the people around them raising them will likely leave much to be desired. It is necessary for beings to continue to learn, and this often entails a serious consideration of what was instilled into them at an earlier time. It is quintessential that we question and evaluate these things since the state of the world will have changed by the time that we reach maturation. The ideas that people gave us may apply to a world that is already different. The story of the Tower of Babel may refer to a state that earlier humans lived in, perhaps on a shared continent, in which the manners in which they communicated were similar. Then, at some point, perhaps these same peoples went off on their travels and developed new languages. In a funny way, we seem to do that as individuals. At some point, we strike out on our own, even if only a little. Though we may differ on surface level behaviors and in the symbols that we use to describe the human experience, human beings are more or less fundamentally the same. We let our differences create so, so, so many barriers between ourselves and other beings. Just think of all of the harm that things like xenophobia, racism, intolerance, and a lack of an ability to communicate verbally with one another have done to our species. Even beyond that, just think of how easily we dismiss the inner lives and inner experiences of creatures different than ourselves simply because they do not communicate verbally with us in our preferred tongue. Research is overwhelmingly in support of other beings communicating with others of their kind, whether we as individuals acknowledge it or not.. Some of us are just really into denial about it. We could achieve remarkably wonderful things, if only we would learn to recognize the similarities of our experiences. (Matthew 19:6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”)
This sketchbook spread features a stylized pattern of colorful poppy flowers. The garden of flowers includes leaves of green, yellow and peach. The flowers are yellow with blue stems. The drawing as a whole has a whimsical and playful feel with a bright color scheme, polka dots and organic squiggle shapes, and blobs of seemingly random colors. Please check out my website ArtsyDrawings.com for more by me, Brianna Eisman. Thank you!
A fairy wearing willow leaves hovers and regards the viewer in this pen and ink with colored pencils illustration.
I love the versatility of acrylic paint. You can change the consistency by adding water or acrylic mediums. These additions enable artists to create transparent glazes or thick impasto textures. The fast-drying nature of acrylics makes it easier to correct mistakes or make alterations during the painting process. This painting is part of a three piece set featuring my favorite plants painted on a soft gradient background.
More little lino prints. I added another acorn and a leaf. I may add more leaves.
It's a quick digital recreation of my last gouache painting. And I don't like it very much. - I had trouble finding a good brush for painting leaves on the top of the tree. - There is no magic like in traditional art. - I didn't enjoy drawing as much as painting with gouache. - I couldn't peel off the tape when I was done.
I'm playing a lot with the background texture. I'm discovering the power of brushes from Krita Software. I fell in love with the gouache texture effect. I like the silhouettes in this illustration, but the leaves could be better. I need to find a good brush for drawing leaves faster and with ease. Or maybe I should try some other techniques? Have a creative time!
These days I never get tired of making different leaf designs and there is so much inspiration to get from nature.
I have been teaching myself stippling. This is a work in progress on a birch tree bark. I've always admired birches and have strong childhood connections with them. I am a keeper of some very fond memories of our summer house and three beautiful big birch trees in the yard. I could sit under them for hours: watching the delicate leaves dance in the summer breeze; watching them turn golden during autumn; feeling my way around on their uneven bark full of valleys and crevices.
A little fairy has heard beautiful music beyond the leaves and stepping through, she finds a fellow fairy playing his violin. Pen and ink line art illustration.
I took a lot of artistic licence with this, and am not happy with the flower itself. I do like the branch and leaves though.
Felt inspired by this week's drawing prompt. Went with a Star Trek scene. Earth Spacedock from the movies always leaves me in awe. Tried to show it with its doors opening so you could see there is an inside. The starship's scale and perspective are off, but that is meh.
The "Scenic Views" painting shows the autumn season with yellow and orange leaves with a narrow river in the center of multiple oak trees. This painting is made using acrylic paints with a mix of knife and brush for trees and leaves. This wall art is modern and ideal for the living room or bedroom. It will also do well in a lounge, office, hotel, etc. On a quality canvas base, this wall art is durable and eco-friendly. It comes in three different sizes.
Meadhbh standing in front of a green wall. Simplified her hair and the leaves in the background a bit. Charcoal and pastel pencils on 9” x 12” Strathmore archival sketchbook paper, scanned into Photoshop. Model: Meadhbh