During uni holidays – June till the beginning of October I would always work, so I can afford another year in art Academy. Education in Poland is free, university level included, but you still need money for housing(big Universities or Academies are only in bigger city's, so majority of students are from far away) plus food and so on.
For 2 years in row(again- only during holidays) I was working in historical buildings conservation. We did the so-called ‘quarrys’ - scraping off few inches squares of successive layers of paint, plaster and mortar to see if there were any forgotten frescoes or buried sculptures. When we have found some painting or sculpture – then it would start laborious process of uncovering it without damaging the delicate surface of the work of art. I liked this job, because every worker was carrying extreme responsibility. To work too fast or sloppy meant to destroy few centuries old frescoes. So you need to be extremely focus at all times. But it didn’t changed simple fact – that work was extremely boring and repetitive. And after a while I had to asked the chief conservator to move me to more creative tasks.
She looked at me suspiciously when I said, that I want to be moved to do something else.
-I thought you are thinking seriously about taken faculty form historical conservation? Is that changed?
-I did, but I feel I can’t use any of creativity here. And I afraid, that after a while I will became sloppy, purely because it bores me. Is there anything other that I can do?
-Of course, but you really need to rethink your choice of profession, my dear.
-How come?
-To work in historical conservation, and doesn’t matter if this is buildings, sculpture or paintings is to re-create something that some other talent did long time ago. My Darling – this job is for people without God’s Spark.
-…? (my eyes get very wide at this point, I am sure of it)
-do you have God’s Spark?
-I don’t think I do, ma'am.
-If you don’t – that’s good. It is very difficult life to be creative person. You are always hungry. You always looking for something fresh. Nothing can satisfy one’s curiosity. And this curiosity will lead you to trouble as well. But... there is no escape from it. If you are just trying to convince yourself that you can escape - think twice. So... do you have it???
-Spark?
-God’s Spark!
-I don’t think I do.
I often think about this conversation. The Chief Conservator moved me to reconstruction. I was sculpting missing noses, fingers, wings. Rarely had any sort of reference. And I loved it. Because I could add little bit of myself to it. It wasn’t very creative work, but it required some level of creativity. And this is the way I think about myself. There is something that drives me to try new things, discover new techniques, but it is not enough to form strong, all rounded style and talent.
Maybe it is a spark, but just ordinary one:)
About the drawing
This time the drawing has quite a solid background. And I don't mean that in a literal sense. The creature you see in the drawing is not my original idea. The Collect was created by the excellent Illustrator Keith Thompson. His book fell into my hands at the beginning of my studies, just at a time when I was working in conservation. I tried to create my own versions of his excellent character work and I must admit that I show my works here with my heart on my sleeve. I still don't measure up to this excellent artist. Nevertheless - I think I have made some progress.
According the artist, character I chose to emulate - The Collect - has been formed in a steel womb fitted to a female necromancer. The Collect is composed of souls captured at death and contained under high pressure with liquid aglaophotis( acording to wiki i is a herb mentioned occasionally in works on occultism. References to aglaophotis and to olieribos (both of which are said to be magical herbs) are made in the Simon Necronomicon.)
These souls were condensed into each other until enough life force was coalesced for the birth of a unified entity. The Collect now hangs in the upper stratosphere, a collection of uncountable eyes overseeing the earth and influencing world events.
Today I want to show you two versions of The Collect. Fist I did my first drawing in colour(at the time I was addicted to ProMarkers and thin ink-pens) in about 12 to 15 years ago. The second one, a pencil version became part of my ‘Scroll of Time’. I am sure you can count on third version in few years from now:)))
I wish you all lovely week!
Yours,
Strega Azure
I used pencils: 9B, 6B, 2B, F, 2H
Drawing & pictures are my authorship if not stated otherwise.
All rights reserved @strega.azure ©
All rights reserved @strega.azure ©
Thank you!
I absolutely love the continuity and physicality of this art medium. The illustration and rendering of this whole is gorgeous. I truly encourage you to keep this as technical yet as Raw as possible. I had missed this artwork and now fully remembered your who you were (to me) from seeing this work in full. Thanks for putting work into your posts too. Bravo!
I really appreciate you for saying this! It's not easy to stay motivated, I must admit. But there is still a lot of paper left and not much of the year:)))) Gotta get this thing going!
We will see how much of this scroll I can fill. I have to find some good place to photograph the whole scroll, because it is starting to be a bit problematic :D
Thank you for your visit and the upvote!
You are very welcome and i really meant what I said. It might be easier to set up a camera in a static position and photograph an area of the scroll and then roll it out more and photo the next area and get really good photos that are in the same framing composition.
After you get your shots.... then stitch them together in a photo editor to make a single image. Just an idea. But also, I love the unconventional angles and focal points on areas of interest and detail. I do the same with my art and it gives a whole different perspective on the work. Just some ideas to consider. Take care and looking forward to seeing more! Cheers
I see we think in the same way:D I ordered tripod, should be in soon, so I can adjust the hight and angle of pics easily. It will be handy to do progress pics too.
For now it is just nice to see, that scroll is still in one piece. We will see how long it will last.
By the next chapter tripod should be here, I might to play a bit with animation too:) so all should look little less amateur:)
I'm really looking forward to anything stop-motion that you animate. I'm also really looking forward to how you choose to progress your scroll.
They do say great minds think alike... but I feel like artists tend to know how better to appreciate one another. Your art is incredibly fantastic and I don't find anything amateur about any of it!
🤣
I get what you are saying:) and I do appreciate that. I am glad that my stream of thought has found fertile ground in your mind! I do not plan what will appear on paper well in advance. I let the ides ‘come to me’ if that makes any sense at all :))) I try not to force myself to do anything, because then I really struggle to complete the work despite my best intentions. So... it is a surprise even to me! I am very glad that you fin my work interesting, this gives me fuel to continue my journey:) Cheers!
I find that my best work has been spontaneous and unplanned, but I do enjoy a good plan executed. However, I usually find that I want something more perfect as I expect from a good plan and the limit for creative adventure ends up painting me into a corner. But, if I am creative enough in my design.... and can execute that design... some of my favorite works have been in that format.
It's always hit or miss and it feels like all the stars must be aligned to get the best out of either end of that artistic spectrum of process. I try to never force anything... unless it's commissioned. Then, even if I don't like the subject I still have to make the art. But I can at the least put my style on it.
Stay motivated, inspired, and creative knowing you have a true admirer!
Hello, Follow the account on Twitter - X Alien Art Hive en X
with a pleasure:)))
Thank you:)
Wow, very realistic eyes.
Thank you:)
Congratulations @strega.azure! You received a personal badge!
Wait until the end of Power Up Day to find out the size of your Power-Bee.
May the Hive Power be with you!
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
Check out our last posts:
Thank you:)
It's great to see you contributing to the growth of Hive, @strega.azure. Thank you for participating in Hive Power Up Day!
Cheers!
Congratulations @strega.azure! You received a personal badge!
Participate in the next Power Up Day and try to power-up more HIVE to get a bigger Power-Bee.
May the Hive Power be with you!
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
Check out our last posts:
Thx!
You're welcome. Congratulations on participating in the PUD @strega.azure. 💪🐝
Thank you!