illuminaryart

[illuminaryart]

No Greater Love. 16x20 watercolor and ink. Each "I love you" was written by a native speaker or student of that language. Afrikaans, American Sign Language, Arabic, Bijabo, Burmese, Czech,  Danish, Dutch,  English, Faroese, Fijian, Finnish, French, German, Greek (koine), Greek (modern), Gujarati, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Icelandic, Ilakano, Indonesian,  Italian, Japanese, Kinyarwanda, Korean, Kreyal, Kriol, Latin, Latvian,  Lingala, Luganda, Malay,  Malay, Mandarin,  Melpa, Mongolian, Nakui, Nepali, Papua New Guinean Pidgin (three versions), Polish, Portuguese, Romanian,  Runyankore, Russian, Samoan,  Sesotho, Slovak,  Sorimi, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil,  Tedim, Thai, Tohono O’odham, Tongan, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese, Xhosa, Yoruba, Zulu.

[illuminaryart]

making progress

[illuminaryart]

Making progress on my wood stork drawing! At this point, it's on 11x17" paper, but my proportions are off and I've got to decide whether to fix it and make the drawing huge, or rescale the whole thing to stay at the current size.

So, I'd been eyeballing that bill all morning and figured it was too short despite my measurements. Lined the drawing up with some of my ref pics and.... yeah. If I keep the proportions the same, I'll need to add ~3" just for the beak, so.... looking at 16"x20" in total, maybe? If I go up to 18"x24", then I'll be exceeding the depth of my drawing desk by two inches, so... :| Where I did get things right, using the eye as my standard of measure: the nare, ear, mouth, and chin are perfectly aligned, even if the nare is a little too close to the lower mandible. If I'd measured the top of the skull instead of eyeballing it, then that would be in correct proportion, though you can see there's some variability between the two photos. Where things went off: I had sketched in my basic dimensions when I was referencing from my laptop screen and wasn't able to get exact proportions figured out then. Got things right after I'd printed my photos and was able to measure directly. So, some work to be done but I'm excited by the progress so far.

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Small update on both terrariums after some plant mail arrived yesterday.

[illuminaryart]

Planted!

Psygmorchis pusila, Peperomia serpens, P. rotundifolia, P. emarginella, Selaginella diffusa, S. kraussiana, and a NOID Gesneriad from the general region. Next step is to be very patient and wait to see that everything is rooting and surviving. I'll be adding my springtails shortly (Neanura growae, non-native but cute) and later will put my Trinidad dwarf tarantula (Cyriocosmus elegans) in it.

[illuminaryart]

The plan is to put a puck light on the wall behind it once it's completed. I've got a light stand on it now which won't work great with a puck light (cast shadows!) but once I get a new book shelf squared away, I'll be swapping to an overhead bar + the puck.

The stained glass terrarium I've been working on for a long while is finally done!!! 6"x6"x9", with a perforated metal screen. This will house my Cyriocosumus elegans in a Trinidad biotope.

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Should you feel inspired to get a print, I have it for sale here:

https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/mothwick/no-greater-love/

I encourage you to continue adding to the languages on the painting by writing in your own, share it with missionaries and travelers, and take it on your own journeys. "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,..." "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”"

No Greater Love. 16x20 watercolor and ink. Each "I love you" was written by a native speaker or student of that language. Afrikaans, American Sign Language, Arabic, Bijabo, Burmese, Czech,  Danish, Dutch,  English, Faroese, Fijian, Finnish, French, German, Greek (koine), Greek (modern), Gujarati, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Icelandic, Ilakano, Indonesian,  Italian, Japanese, Kinyarwanda, Korean, Kreyal, Kriol, Latin, Latvian,  Lingala, Luganda, Malay,  Malay, Mandarin,  Melpa, Mongolian, Nakui, Nepali, Papua New Guinean Pidgin (three versions), Polish, Portuguese, Romanian,  Runyankore, Russian, Samoan,  Sesotho, Slovak,  Sorimi, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil,  Tedim, Thai, Tohono O’odham, Tongan, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese, Xhosa, Yoruba, Zulu.

[illuminaryart]

The stained glass terrarium I've been working on for a long while is finally done!!! 6"x6"x9", with a perforated metal screen. This will house my Cyriocosumus elegans in a Trinidad biotope.

[illuminaryart]

A commission being sent home today. Belted kingfisher in ink and watercolor, decorated with a mayfly, juvenile banded sunfish, eastern mudminnow, dusky shiner, and a speckled madtom on the mat. The fishes are all native to the Edisto River, where the commissioner is from.

[illuminaryart]

No Greater Love. 16x20 watercolor and ink. Each "I love you" was written by a native speaker or student of that language. Afrikaans, American Sign Language, Arabic, Bijabo, Burmese, Czech,  Danish, Dutch,  English, Faroese, Fijian, Finnish, French, German, Greek (koine), Greek (modern), Gujarati, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Icelandic, Ilakano, Indonesian,  Italian, Japanese, Kinyarwanda, Korean, Kreyal, Kriol, Latin, Latvian,  Lingala, Luganda, Malay,  Malay, Mandarin,  Melpa, Mongolian, Nakui, Nepali, Papua New Guinean Pidgin (three versions), Polish, Portuguese, Romanian,  Runyankore, Russian, Samoan,  Sesotho, Slovak,  Sorimi, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil,  Tedim, Thai, Tohono O’odham, Tongan, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese, Xhosa, Yoruba, Zulu.

[illuminaryart]

A pair of roseate spoonbills and a wood stork composition for a very large ink drawing I'm planning out.

[illuminaryart]

Finished 6"x9" watercolor gecko commission. Lots of room for improvement (and better brushes) but I'm satisfied. Featuring Hera the gargoyle gecko, Banana the crested, and Porpax karikouyensis on the left and Dendrobium ngoyense on the right, orchids that are native to New Caledonia where the geckos are from. (Not sure if the orchids are native to the geckos' specific islands buuuut whatever).

[illuminaryart]

Finished 6"x9" watercolor gecko commission. Lots of room for improvement (and better brushes) but I'm satisfied. Featuring Hera the gargoyle gecko, Banana the crested, and Porpax karikouyensis on the left and Dendrobium ngoyense on the right, orchids that are native to New Caledonia where the geckos are from. (Not sure if the orchids are native to the geckos' specific islands buuuut whatever).

[illuminaryart]

Final sketch of a client's gargoyle and crested geckos. Next step is to transfer the drawing, do a little color study or two, and then complete it in watercolor. 6"x9" drawn straight in pen, no pencil used at all. I am really loving these colored inks and the whole piece really shows my process as I worked out the poses and anatomy. I transferred it a couple times to work out pieces but always came back here. It's messy but felt a lot more freeing than worrying at the drawing in pencil. I need to double check tail lengths and the gargoyle's foreleg -- something's off there. Overall, very pleased and excited about this piece.

[illuminaryart]

Final sketch for a commission. 6"x9" of the client's gargoyle and a crested gecko. I drew this all in pen, no pencil at all which is a ton of fun. I really love these colored inks for shading and layering. The whole image serves as a view into my process as I worked out the poses and anatomy.