I just returned from a quick trip to Denmark. I am going to post some sketchbook pages from my travel-sketchbook, but before I do that, I'll share this mixed media piece that I did over there, and that my father will now have to find a frame for and add to his (not-so-small) collection of his youngest daughter's creative expressions. Like most parents, though, he appreciates his children's' work (unless I include him in my semi-autobiographical comics) and always displays it around the house.
I had forgotten how beautiful Denmark is in the summer. Most of the days came with warm sunshine, but without the extreme heat and humidity we get over here. The inspiration for this piece was my father and stepmother's orchids in the big living room window with all the sunshine and blue skies outside. My parents' houses are full of plants and flowers, and in their gardens and greenhouse, there are tomato plants, cucumbers, herbs, roses, berry bushes, fruit trees, and plenty of brightly-colored flowers. All meticulously cared for with love. And here I am, someone who can't even keep a cactus alive, and I have no patience for gardening and plants anyway. Instead, I inherited my creative urge from both of them, and prefer to draw flowers rather than care for the actual things (though, to be honest...I don't draw or paint an awful lot of flowers either).
The background is made of cut-outs from local newspapers from the Sallingsund area, pasted on bristol board with gesso and paint mixed in with it. I drew the flowers with pencil, painted them with watercolor and redrew them with ink. The zipper on the upper left hand corner is something I found out on my father's porch, and nobody could figure out who had lost it. I think it must have been my friend, Lis-Anne, who came to visit a few days earlier. Lis-Anne: if you are missing this object, you now know where to find it!
