IF - Sweet

This is the final illustration for my book of the fairy tale 'The Golden Hero Dragan'. In this scene the hero gets to marry the princess after the usual hardships he has to overcome to prove his being smart and courageous.

I always wanted to do a still life, even during my art studies. Though at the time it was the last thing to do because then 'Die Jungen Wilden' where the hottest thing. So we were not to learn any techniques but rather be inspired on our own (like the true artist...) and then learn the method required for the relevant project. So I missed a solid education in different art techniques. It also meant that my visits of the still life branch of the museum had to be done secretly in hope of not being detected. But I so admired how the ancient masters did fruit, especially grapes, plums and peaches. How could they convey the exact feelings of the different surfaces and the light?
I am still amazed at their skills. They may not have been innovative but it shows their love for the painted subject. I always feel the same when I am drawing (or should I rather say painting?): there can't be any ugly or inferior item. As soon as I get intimate with all the details, I begin to see it's beauty. It's almost like falling in love. Of course it requires a lot of time and effort and is not considered very much like art, rather like some craft or as a lector recently asked 'Don't you have anymore artlike stuff in your portfolio?' Uggh!

IF - egg

This egg comes as a surprise: whenever one has cracked, another is appearing inside. Will the purple one be the last?
I have always been intrigued by Russian matryoshka dolls, so I simply had to make my Easter egg working after the same principle.

I also made some yummy Easter cookies including egg-shaped ones, which you can see here:

Everything just had to be some shade of green to at least feel a touch of spring inside the house because guess what I saw when I raised my shutters on Saturday?

That's a view you'd expect on Christmas, not on Easter. I hope that at least some of you have enjoyed a more spring-like Easter.

If - perennial

As I am still very busy preparing my exhibition in September, which will show illustrations for a fairy tale, I did not think I could post anything this week.

But thanks to Susan Sorell Hill who, in her post, refers to fairy tales as perennial stories that deal with the Journey of Life, I decided to give you a glimpse into my fairy tale with the above illustration. Here the brother of the hero desperately wants to eat after a long struggle and the task both he and the hero had to face seemingly completed by now. But he doesn't know that these tempting pears are not what they seem to be...

IF - surrender

When I read this weeks topic first what came to my mind where images of surrendering armies and war. But apart from this being too obvious an association (for me) I didn't want to illustrate such a sad theme.

So I began to search for matters where I surrender. And here's what I surrender to: chocolate - of any variety. For me there's no alcohol, no cigarettes plus I am vegetarian, but  if it comes to chocolate I surrender to that temptation.

While drawing I was listening to the radio and in the news they very conveniently refered to the confectionary fair in Cologne that has just opened today. And guess what they said? Every single German eats 305 kg of sweets every year and - the industrie is not satisfied with its sales volumes. Can you believe that?