Friday, January 06, 2006

Illustration Friday - Sea

Sea Collage

Yesterday I started work on this. It started as a collage of the paper and scissors type. Then I scanned it in and spent this morning manipulating it with Painter IX's oil brushes.

Here is a detail (at a higher resolution):

Sea Detail

Handily relevant to the topic!

Tell me, if you've time, what you think the big picture is really about. Its another one of my intuitively created pieces that I'm hoping to understand more from.

Thank you!

49 comments:

Zórdís said...

This one gives you a multi choice of topics. Solid and nice peace! I love the smell of the Ocean........

Caroline said...

Thanks Zordis - I wasn't thinking of it becoming an IF piece at the time I did it, if I had I'd only have shown the detail :-) so maybe being prepared is part of the message... thanks for helping me think about this! And you are right the Ocean has a powerful scent.

Cream said...

Caro, ABSOLUUUUUTELY Beeeoootiful!
I really love it!
Great work! Well done!

andrea said...

Wow! This is a very surreal piece. I love the feeling that it's constantly moving. Back later for a longer look -- and to see if I can "see" anything.

Caroline said...

Cream - thanks - I will admit to being pleased with this one myself!

Andrea - surreal is how my collages often tend - I love putting things together that way!

Joy Eliz said...

Very cool. I love the 'oil' look

steve said...

Looking at this, it gives me the impression that your house is full of teleportation portals to all the destinations you loved to visit. Sorta like what Dan Simmons wrote about in his Hyperion series. Pretty slick stuff !

:-)

Anonymous said...

I love the surreal feel of this piece, Caroline. It's very original, creative.

Caroline said...

Joy Eliz - thanks - its the first time I've tried the oil brushes in Painter IX

Steve - I think you are right! I'll see if we can get someone to put those portals in... but failing that maybe I need some daydream journeys somewhere exotic.

Alexa Brett - thank you - perhaps its an attempt to see within me

Paula - Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hi.

Vow. You've got the sea here. I thought this was a tough assignment, and didn't even attempt to draw the actual sea, but you did beautifully.

I like especially the detail picture, the water and movement of it. And yes the colors!!

Caroline said...

Thanks Maria!

Anonymous said...

Whoa! It's like one of those rooms that's covered in the giant photograph wallpapers. lol I'm not sure if what I just said made any sense. BEAUTIFUL painting though! This has to be one of my favorite ones I've seen on your site. :)

Caroline said...

Rachelle - I think you may have hit on something I've missed - I need more of my pictures up on the walls and that means actually doing more that I like!

thanks for the favouriting!

carla said...

I have been by several times to look at this, and i am at a loss for what I think it means! It is so surrealistic, and I can think of things to do with water and the subconscious - portals and stairways, but then there's the skier and the surfer. Perhaps it has something to do with entering a new phase and reaching for higher levels (I see the reaching figure) without knowing where you're going (the partial staircase), but wanting to feel free and powerful like the figures in the upper portion. This is sooo cool...I love the strokes and the colors...very strong and very compelling. I see you've changed the blog around too...it looks very nice:>

valerie walsh said...

I think that this is where we go in the mind when you let go of physical restraints. I think the staircase is the way to these islands, and moutains and waves and beauty and youth. Excellent job! caroline, love this!!!

Anonymous said...

One of the things it suggests to me is leaving shelter and confines, the familiar, and moving out across the ocean and beyond to the horizon (which has a way of putting everything else in perspective). But personally, I have trouble seeing past the stairwell and the sea... like Andrea, I don't know what the skier/surfer suggest, but certainly action at the least. Being one with the ocean/larger world as opposed to looking at it or moving toward it? Enough analyzing... It's very nice, Caroline. I really like it.

Wandering Coyote said...

Caro: I see abundance, movement and, freedom. I see people using their bodies to create abundance, movement and freedom.

I love it, and am amazed at what your computer program can do!

Wilnara said...

Caroline,
I have been staring at this image for quite some time. I love it! I feel it's about the possiblities to reaching without limitations. There is a wonderful sense of depth. I love how this image is so thought provoking. Your color choice and composition draws me in to wonder at all the possiblities.

isay said...

i love the texture first of all and the colors you have used. i think it's about the steps we take in our life. the sea and the skies symbolizes the horizon and different kinds of experiences we encounter....

Caroline said...

Thank you all so much for your time and thoughts!

Carla - I love the idea of it being a new phase (I could do with one) and your reading of it sounds like one I'll enjoy. The reaching for higher levels is interesting I hadn't thought of that interpretation and does relate to my intent if not my achievement :-)

Valgalart - I'm going to go looking for this staircase in my dreams - the last time I tried to dream about a holiday I ended up hanging around in airports all night long!

Nan - yes it could be about opening out beyond the safe and familiar couldn't it? And getting past the sea is an obvious barrier... especially if they represent the emotions...

Wandering Coyote - thank you I love the idea of abundance with movement and freedom. And yes this is a BRILLIANT program - I know not everyone gets along with Painter but I love it. (Mind you it still took hours to do the painting... but I felt it was worth it this time.)

Wilnara - Wow - reaching without limitations is a great concept. And no wonder I've had a hard time getting my head around it!

Isay - yes I'm with you on that and I hope the experiences are going to be fun - lets ride that wave!

Anonymous said...

Very cool! I originally thought it was a piece about movement, until I saw the Illustration Friday title.

gudbrandsdottir said...

Great picture, I especially like the oil strokes, looks very real. I can see peace and joy, relaxed atmosfear.

Anonymous said...

It is simply doing away with borders! Everything within it reaches beyond the frame. This is my very favourite (on top of last week's entry) of your IF submissions! I love the oil texture :)

Tony Sarrecchia said...

Beautiful piece. I can smell the ocean and hear the gulls.

Caroline said...

Rose - thanks - movement is good - I like that.

gudbrandsdottir - thank you - peace and joy and relaxed atomsfear? Now that maybe a typo but what a great one - beyond the atmosphere of fear! Brilliant!

Michelle - thanks! I liked using this method so I expect there will be more...

Anonymous - without borders is good too... and thanks, though I'm a bit woried about setting myself too high standards... no borders means there is no standard, right?

Tony - thanks and another vote for the smell of the sea but with added sound this time - so I'll interpret this as extending the senses...

Anonymous said...

Right! Teehee };-}

Mick said...

This one leaves me speechless. I keep looking at it and looking at it. I'll be coming back for more!

Anonymous said...

Lovely, looks a surfer. Looks like you're a natural at digital.

Majane said...

this is great! and thanks for leaving the comment on my blog!

Slowplum said...

What can I possibly say that already hasn't been said? This is gorgeous, I could stare at it for hours, which is exactly how I feel when I'm looking at the ocean.

The Unknown said...

Wow. Cool stuff. It looks to me like the seasons are all in different corners of the illustration. The image in the mirror is choosing which direction to go. Though it seems the path leads up the stairs. Or something like that.
love

Caroline said...

I really do appreciate the help I'm getting here - thank you to you all!

Miss Banana Pie - thank you!

Anonymous - glad you agree... even with a devilish smile on your face....

Mick - speechless is exactly right - I had to create this because I couldn't find the words... and why I'm asking for helping in working out what it means!

Janey - thanks! I enjoy digital - but I really enjoy this cross-over so I get to play with real stuff too.

Majane - thanks and you are welcome!

Melba - I really hadn't seen this - I love the idea of it containing the cycle of the year within it - and thanks for the dance floor too - I could dance all night! Complete but always changing...

Slowplum - thank you!

Unknown - another vote for the seasons thanks - and its a mirror? Now that is another new thing.

Anonymous said...

surfing the surf and skying the sky and... love tide!water is a symbol of motherhood, I believe...
A nice picture indeed
thanx for stopping by my blog again

Caroline said...

Ayanaku - well if its motherhood my friend Wild Mother Lightning has recently given birth... I love the word play of skying the sky!

modroom said...

I like the tones and atmoshere, and brushwork. I think the surfer is balancing out after the worst.

Unknown said...

Caroline I have been here to look at your piece over and over. It is awesome!!! I'm sure in time you will discover what it means to you. When you are ready it will reveal itself.

Saul Iscariot said...

Firstly, I'm going to have to say, that normally I hate that style of painting, it just leaves me dry, no pun intended on the subject matter. Secondly I'm going to say that is an amazing painting, I really like it, and the style in which it is painted. It works so well. Hats off to you for making such a great painting.

Todd DeWolf said...

Fabulouuuuus! It has a dream feel to it. Love the brush stokes. It gives it a lot of movement. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Great work, I like the expression in the marks. It reminds me of Edward Hopper crossed with Salvidor Dali. Hope that isn't too wierd a comparison...

Jim

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

It makes me think of escape, and evenings in Jamaica is a place called Port Antonio.

BLISS, Caroline.

Nelly said...

This is wonderful! If you're like me, the ocean (or "sea") makes me feel alive, youthful, musing, spiritual. I get all of these things from your "big picture". At the end of this month, we are moving to Long Island NY...near the "sea"...and I can't wait!

Kay Aker said...

sky surfing, what fun!

Kim Carney said...

wonderful!

Caroline said...

Thank you all. More suggestions are still welcome!

I am still try to fathom out this picture myself. I noticed there there are a lot of sticks (which may or may not be made from wood) in it.

there is the staff (or handle to a scythe)
there is the doorway (or frame)
the surfboard
the ski's and poles
the door and the post to which it is attached
the stairs

But also there are some that are strangely absent - I specifically cut off the handrail when I was doing the collage - of course it opens up the picture but it also makes that stairway a lot more open and scary. Openness can be scary, whether one is travelling in the physical world or within. So taking that staircase up to the islands, mountains and waves as valgalart suggests is about letting go.

TXArtcGal said...

I am mesmerized by this image! The colors are wonderful, and the movement makes you feel alive. When I look at the image, I see somebody dreaming as they look into the ocean...dreaming of memories they have, or times they hope to pursue.

Even though there is a lot of movement in this piece...it is still very calming.

Ellen said...

Amazing, Caroline!!!!

Jaimie said...

wow. this looks very much like an oil painting. I love it.

Caroline said...

It is great to have had so much feedback about this image. I think it really does represent the begining of a new cycle and I hope that its as good as some of you are suggesting!

Sorry not to have answered everyone individually - apart from problems making comments (here and on others blogs) in the last few days - I've also been letting the image and your reactions to it wash over me - as the meaning wasn't immediately clear to me I assumed that this was the best way to let it work with me.

And today it does feel so much clearer. And maybe that's what has been going on - a sort of clearing. Thank you for helping.

alex said...

It is wonderful to be "lost" in this painting! To me it feels adventuresome. The breaking down of the walls, exposing a calm sea, and then the unexpected sky!! Freedom, movement and reckless abandon.