Friday, December 02, 2005

Illustration Friday - Blue

Illustration Friday - Blue

Click to enlarge.

I've always had a tendency to mishear things... It leads to both misunderstandings and creative ideas.

If you are leaving a comment I'd love to know you favourite misheard song lyric!

39 comments:

carla said...

I am guessing that you misheard it this way as a child...but maybe not! Well, it certainly gave you the opportunity to create a really lovely illustration. Your blue moose looks very strong and regal, and the circular background and use of lines creates an etched, metallic look. I like how you've used the text...varying the siza and bending it along the arc.

Becky Mairi Farrell said...

This is so beautiful. I love the way you've worked the gold in the background, and, well, all of it really.

If you like misheard song lyrics you'll love this animation: http://www.rathergood.com/elephants/

I also love what you wrote about your mother.

Which Shropshire church has the mural? I lived in Shropshire until April and go back from time to time. If it's not too hard to get to I'd love to go and look at it.

andrea said...

Oo oo oo -- I love this: the swirling textures emphasizing the circle, the feeling of vibrations, the colours, all of it! This is my favourite of everything you've done ... so far.

I have some classic misheard lyrics but the most embarassing is that I thought Benny of Benny and the Jets had "electric boobs, a mohair suit..."

Caroline said...

Thanks Carla - I mixed in hand done and Painter text on top ... glad its worked! I have no idea when I misheard it but it was what the word blue brought to mind.

zinkibaru - thanks for your appreciation and the link - surely that's exactly what he's singing isn't it - its great!
The Shropshire church was an RAF one and in the years before she died my mother was upset to discover that the mural had been painted over... yet another blow to her self-esteem... she'd been hoping to get one of us to go and photograph it so she wrote asking for permission and was told it was no longer there. Its lovely that you felt moved to ask about it!

Caroline said...

Andrea thanks - its already one of my favourites too! I like the electric boobs instead of boots... It does conjure up an interesting picture!

isay said...

i like this song-i am singin' it now! you blue moose is really outstanding.

Unknown said...

Caroline
This is the best blue moose!
you never know what might inspire us and that is the fun part. see you were meant to hear it the way you did.

Caroline said...

hi isay - we've been singing it too - can't get the Blue Moose song out of our heads... which is odd as we are celebrating our wedding anniversay tonight...

Thanks toni - I'm glad you see the fun too!

Cream said...

Reminds of Grease! When you do see a full moon!
Great drawing!

elegraph said...

it's like a cell-phone commercial here in the US where this girl's boyfriend starts singing def leppard's "pour some sugar on me," but instead, he sings, "pour some shook-up ramen"...

i love the illo. the color gradients and the textures are great.

Rick Lovell said...

Very clever idea, but even better artwork! Terrific textures and patterns; I love the comb effect and the vibrating waves around the reindeer (not a moose, actually...just a technicality, I know, but I'm a nit-picker by nature).

Anonymous said...

Fine moose! I love the vibration also ... like that from a song :) I mishear and don't remember lyrics ... too many other things my brain needs space for but enjoy the warped misinterpretations at their moment :)

Caroline said...

Cream - sorry I don't quite get this - is it a misquote that I'm missing? Glad you like the drawing!

kg - thanks for that, if we do get that ad here I've not seen it - glad you like it

rick - you spotted it! - it did start out as a reindeer for a Christmas card... but then along came "blue" and I couldn't resist... so this is a reindeer impersonating a moose knowing it will be reinvented as itself soon... strange that you didn't say they aren't normally blue....

anonymous - thankyou - that's the problem isn't it - hard to recall them...

Anonymous said...

Think it was more fun by choice to make up variations of lyrics ... then it became a habit with no choice! There probably is a choice if we try really hard, but don't want to :)

Caroline said...

anonymous - I'm a second generation mishearer at least... my mother was always doing it so I'd rather thought it was in my blood but maybe it was just learnt like so many other things...

Anonymous said...

I too am second generation mishearer; think it is both learnt and genetic with a personality prefering to choose this way of coping with other things... are you dreadful with numbers?

Caroline said...

Once long ago I was good at things like mental arithmetic... then I got interested in maths and did a maths degree... but discovered that, during a fever, the numbers were against me, especially 37 and 462... I scraped through the degree and now have difficulty adding... luckily computers do that for me now... what about you?

Anonymous said...

Numbers and their capability astound me! However, have difficulty adding ... luckily computers do that for me :) It is the result from a government experiment when I was in second class. Have a son who is mathematically minded which makes me wonder ... not in a mathematical sense though :)

Caroline said...

Uh huh... blame it on the government... unless of course the government experiment was to have no maths teachers - that would make it harder.
What kind of experiment were they doing?

Now I'm getting all sorts of wild imaginings...

Anonymous said...

You are right! No teachers for all subjects ... they sat in a corner and only spoke to you if misbehaving or you whisper "I don't understand this"! 7 and 8 year olds doing what is done in high school where you change classrooms for different subjects when a bell rang. You could only go to the craft room when all classes were finished but could take craft home on weekends if not done. SO I fed the guinea-pigs for maths then took home and did craft all weekend :) Just ignored maths after that };-}

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

Blue moose? hahaha...

Wow, beautiful art, Caro.

I think the misunderstanding of words in songs is called Mondigreen. It got this name when the words "Laid them on the green" were mistaken for "Lady Mondigreen."

It's not me who's not hearing. It's those darn singers on the radio not paying attention to me :-D

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

Oh, I just remembered one...when I was a child I thought the song "I can see clearly now, the rain is gone, I can see all obstacles in my way" was:

"I can see all popsicles in my way..."

I used to see popsicles falling instead of rain.

Julie Oakley said...

I used to think my fellow school friends in Fiji just didn't speak English as well as I did so I used to sing very loudly 'We'll Sing Matilda..' while they all sang... well you know

TheTart said...

BLUE moose!

The Tart is always mishearing things, sung or spoken....all lead to interesting adventures.

Beautiful work.

Smooch,
The Tart

Uta Ritke said...

Oh what a beautiful artwork! Very nice. And thank for visiting my blog and your nice comment. ;)

Caroline said...

Anonymous - did you really have no teaching when you were 7 or 8? Amazing.

GG - I looked it up now you've given me the name and there are loads! Wow!
And I love the image of popsicles... like colourful hail.

Julie - what a funny one and you sang it extra loudly too!

Jody - perhaps you could tell us about one...

fancy world - thank you. And I love your funny creations so I'll be back again.

Anonymous said...

Really. They also never introduced the scheme into the system afterwards :) Also missed a whole year when 11 to 12 because travelling and there was a misunderstanding about my having to go to school in other countries. That really finished off maths skills for good!

Todd DeWolf said...

I like "Blue moose" better. I think the song that confused me as a child was the song Mama Mia by ABBA- one line I mixed up was-my, my here we grow again, instead of my, my here we go again. I was young. Great take on the theme.

Unknown said...

Lovely illo!!

Tony Sarrecchia said...

Blue Moose, that's funny. When I was young, I always thought Hendrix was saying 'Excuse me while I kiss this guy'.

Caroline said...

Thanks Melba - funny how ideas get picked up independently isn't it?

Anonymous - a misunderstanding about having to go to school - so did you have a whole year of not going to school then? Where were you travelling?

Holly - I've found it hard to stop singing Blue Moose since I did the picture... hope you're recall of Mama Mia hasn't done the same to you!

Alina - thanks.

Tony - I'm not familiar with Hendrix - what were the proper words?

Tony Sarrecchia said...

It was a Jimmy Hendrix song from the 60s--the actual line was Excuse me while I kiss the sky. It was more of a drug reference than a sexual preference...

mag.nolia said...

Wow...!! It looks like a very complicated drawing, but you made a simple object look awesome!! Wonderful job! :)
hartini.com

FromThaBrook said...

yes! i love this. and i love moose.

Dana S. Whitney said...

Great moose... I suppose he could do that syncopated dance move, as well...
My father told me he thought bears were important at Sunday school... because of the hymn "Gladly, the cross-eyed bear" (rather than Gladly, the cross I'd bear...) I'd like a bear named Gladly, wouldn't you?

Queen Tut said...

Love the textures Caroline!

Anonymous said...

Had half a year off, found out when home again parents thought I went to school but only went for one day. Visited relatives Vienna, Germany, also went to Berlin and Portugal - it was education about family :} Kept graphs of daily temperatures and diary, visited places from family history - so kept up with schoolish work on own :)

Caroline said...

Tony - that's funny your version was more "normal" than the real one!

Thank you hartini. I hope I didn't over-complicate it.

Thank you fromthabrook.

Sulty PainterWoman - I think a cross-eyed bear called gladly would be lots of fun! Maybe that should be a companion to the Blue Moose...

Thanks Queen Tut. Sometimes I like to play with textures.

Anonymous - that sounds a whole lot more educational than many a year in school - though it does sound like there wasn't much Maths involved. But you have proven yourself to be competently literate which matters rather more.

Anonymous said...

Hahhaaa, yes NO maths! Note I write maths in lower-case };-}