Retreat

This past weekend I went on a retreat focusing on the Illuminated Word and had the opportunity to take a more spiritual and contemplative approach to art. It was located in the mountains of West Virginia. Here are some photos of the beautiful setting!














And here are a couple of small things I did while I was there...

Haiku:


Said snail...

Beth

My first-ever attempt at a portrait...

Doorway

This is an exercise I did from a book for oil painting, but I did it with watercolor.


This one I had done in pen and ink in my journal before I did the version above.

IF "Grow" - The Sapling

These are a couple of concepts I did for a children's story written by my mom about a sapling that is uprooted and moved around to foreign environments, struggling to thrive and grow...

IF - "Extremes" - Extremely Humble

So, I may have mixed up my fables somewhat... but I think this still works. :) The irony of the big 'ole lion needing the little itty bitty mouse to help him, and how "extremely" humbling that could be... :) Below I pasted in some background on the original fables, from Wikipedia.

The Lion and the Mouse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Have questions? Find out how to ask questions and get answers. •

The Lion and the Mouse is an Aesop's fable. In the fable, a lion wants to eat a mouse who wakes him up. The mouse begs forgiveness and promises to return the favor if ever he is given the opportunity. He also makes the point that such unworthy prey as him should not stain the lion's great paws. Later, the lion is captured by hunters and tied to a tree; the lion roars with all his might so that someone might help him. The mouse hears the lion's pleas and frees him by gnawing through the ropes. The moral of this story is stated in the last line of the fable:

Little friends may prove great friends.

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted"

Another Aesop fable with a similar moral lesson concerns a slave who removes a thorn from a lion's paw, and the lion later comes to the slave's rescue.[1]

The story may have Ancient Egyptian roots, a nearly identical tale was told by Thoth to Hathor in one myth.

Some new things...

IF - "Open" - Open your heart to the wonder...

Thank you for all the nice comments! :) I had trouble getting the scan to really show the colors. They are much more saturated than this shows. But I really enjoyed creating her and I think eventually I'll do this one again, a little larger scale, with more detail.

My Lil' Polly

Some sketches from today...

IF - The Blues

This little pumpkin has the blues... (watercolor)
Update: It appears I missed the mark with this one... :) Not many people noticed the sad face in the pumpkin! Therefore, it didn't make sense why I submitted this illo for this topic! Oh well...