IF - forward

This forward moving horse is one of my illustrations for the fairy tale 'The Golden Hero Dragan', the original running into the opposite direction.

Instinctively I thought that forward would usually mean to go from left to right (though in the above mentioned book it works the other way round). That left me wondering why this should be so. Does it depend on the writing direction one is accustomed to which in Latin writing goes from left to right? Does that mean on the other hand that people who are writing right-to-left (as with Hebrew and Arabian) or not only right-to-left but top-to-bottom (as with some Asian scripts) read this illustration differently? So maybe illustration is not globally readable after all?

Poster for a work group at school

At the primary school my son attends, parents were asked to give work groups on a 'Parents Project Day' on whichever topic they would like to. I volunteered to read 'The Gruffalo' in English (and German of course, as the kids have only just begun to learn the language) which is a story I admire very much. Besides I love reading to children. There is hardly a day when I don't read to my son and we discuss about the heard.

Anyway, in the work group I intend to hide any illustration of the Gruffalo itself from them and read till the moment before the mouse discovers its imagined monster to be real because I want the children to draw a monster of their own imagination with the given information. Afterwards we will of course go on with the story and the Gruffalo in the book will be revealed. I hope this concept will work. Especially so as I have never done such a work group before.

As there are 12 work groups, the children will have to chose which of them they are interested in. So every teaching parent had to create a poster to describe what one's work group is about. It had to show as few words as possible because some of the kids are not yet very accomplished readers. I had the idea of a forest with the information on a log pile and symbols for all the vital info.

IF - twirl

Thinking about 'twirl' for a while there appeared to be so many things that twirl that I actually felt a bit dizzy (talking about twirls and heads...;)). What I really wanted was to show the movement. Plus it should be something playful. So I opted for a simple spinning top.

IF - prepare

As carnival is not so far away now ;) my son has decided on the costume he wants to wear: it has to be Hector Barbossa from 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. Fortunately we already have some of the required pieces, but I still have to sew a few things. So I have prepared for this since Sunday by adapting patterns and looking for appropriate fabrics.

Of course I want to do the monkey who perches on his shoulder, too. This is a bit of a challenge, because the only patterns I could spot so far have been for sock monkeys which this one is definitely not going to be. I'm really looking forward to creating the monkey, though.

To prepare the above illustration I made a very quick sketch that I also want to show you:

Right now I try a few different approaches from my usually very realistic one. Not because I don't like it, but sometimes it's simply too time consuming. Also I feel the need to develop. I am already excited about the outcome.

IF - grounded

Grounded again - the first post for IF for quite a while now.

It shows a pylon standing in water that is standing about 50 m from our house. Right now the river I'm living at (which normally can't be seen from our house) has flooded all the adjoining grassland so that it looks as if we were living at a big lake. I love this sight! Fortunately our house is built on a much higher level so that there's no risk of water in the basement. The pylon itself is built on a concrete base that emerges about 2 m above ground - under normal conditions, that is.

Exhibition

New year, new beginning.

Finally, I finished my illustrations for the fairy tale 'The Golden Hero Dragan' I have told you about some time ago. The opening of the exhibition will be on Saturday, 7th January in the public library of Emsdetten. Everyone who lives nearby is warmly invited to come and see. As you can imagine, I am very excited about it and hope the illustrations will be appreciated. Keep your fingers crossed!

Also, I intend to resume posting for IF as it's always so much fun. Hope to find enough time though,  because I have quite a lot of projects going on.