ideas for sword painting or drawing

A while back, I was sketching in my altered journal.  What I love about altered books and visual journals is that there are no rules, really.   That particular day, I was sketching swords.  I love swords.  From history, fiction, movies...  and I was trying to remember sword names .  Afterwards, I went back and added paint, and silver leaf pens.  I think most of these swords are from Lord of the Rings and Arthurian legend.  Swords are always named, that is fascinating.
There is an ancient Celtic tale concerning a sword named the Sword of Light owned by a god named Nuada.  It is also called the Sword of Truth.  Nuada loses his left hand and as a result can not rule due to the imbalance the loss of a hand causes.  Magically, he is given a silver hand, and with that gift, balance is restored, Nuada is able to rule once more.  I didn't realize at first how much this tale is mirrored in Star Wars with the young Luke Skywalker and his Lightsaber and electronic hand.

The sword of Light is the archetypal sword of a king which inspired both Excalibur of king Arthur and Aragorn's Narsil.  Which leads me to this painting by Alan Lee of Isildur after his sword Narsil is broken. 

Often, visual journals are a jumping point for artists.  I want to create a painting based on a sword.  Possibly with a Naiad (water spirit) or a dryad (tree spirit). Of course, the Naiad concept, the Lady of the Lake protecting the sword, has already been done.  Still, it could be done differently.  A sword being connected to a tree, that is another idea I like a lot. 

I like this painting of Gandalf with his sword Glamdring.

And this Russian artist's woodblock paintings are cool.  Here is the Sword of Light held by Luke Skywalker in an awesome mix of medieval folk and science fiction modern art.  

 Of course, there is the Accolade by Edmund Blair Leighton, a pre-Raphaelite artist.  I have a large print of this painting in my dining room. 
















And one more by Alan Lee of a lesser known tragic hero from the Silmarillion.  His story ends in a depressing double suicide, but his sword was awesome, and he stands up against Morgoth and does not relent his hope in the supreme good of the Valar and Iluvatar.  And this illustration is beautiful.  After further pondering, I think I need a real sword in order to draw/paint the real essence of the weapon.

Using photographs for reference is fine, but  limiting.  They simplify a three dimensional object onto a two dimensional plane, and a good part of your subject is simplified too much as a result. Some of the essence of your subject is loss. And drawing from observation trains your eye and pushes you as an artist.  It is more difficult, but the end result is worth it.   Mental note:  MUST go out and sketch and photograph some dogwoods.  They are blooming and are absolutely beautiful. 

Visual Journaling

I have been thinking that I need to organize my blog posts into a couple of different blogs.  The problem with that is that I would end up with 60 different categories.  It probably would be good to have a new blog for my art and visual journals.  I hope that I am able to use visual journals in some type of workshop format, for the use of art therapy in the future. 

With my journaling, I try to do a thematic approach, but no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to keep any cohesive theme to my pages.  Just like my blog, my journals end up being slightly  schizophrenic in nature. 

 

artistic doodling

 steampunk collage

more traditional watercolor, and conte crayon using a photograph I took in a local garden as a base.

Visual Journals

On Saturday, I attended a Visual Journal workshop with the local Art Guild that I am a member of.  It was great.  Visual Journals can serve so many purposes, and can be created by anyone.  Following the same type of idea that I use with old recycled books, I began a journal with blank handmade paper from India.  I splurged on it because I fell in love with the leather embossed cover.  I felt it may help inspire me.

The Instructor, Leigh, is an awesome art teacher, who taught highschool art for years at a local private school.  When she taught high school, she encouraged her students to journal, sketch, and brainstorm ideas in altered books and visual journals.

To begin our journals, she encouraged us to use different painting techniques  to create interesting backgrounds.  She often creates a few backgrounds, and then brings the journal with her to sketch and write over the creative backgrounds.  After our backgrounds were dry, she showed us a few different transfer techniques, and we painted and collaged.  The handmade paper I used ended up drinking up the paint very nicely.

 The below method includes gesso, writing text (I chose some Narnia quotes) and smudging. The quotes are two of my favorite interactions from the Last Battle. On a funny note, my daughter asked me a while back, who my favorite fictional animal was, and without thinking I said "Jewel the Unicorn", yes, I really haven't changed much since 6th grade.
To finish the page, I added watercolor paint over it.  Highschool students love this creative activity.

 A background I created today, not sure what I will do to finish it. 

I have a student who is creating an art journal for her confirmation.  I am looking forward to sharing some of these new techniques with her. 

Altered Journal pages and Peacocks

 Some new pages in my altered book.  This is nothing but therapy for me.  And trying to free up some creativity.  Getting past the mental blocks and all.

And here are the watercolor fowl that I have been working on.  Trying to let the paint do its own thing is a difficult thing for me.  I think its about control.  Anyway, any suggestions, critiques or feedback is appreciated.