One of the things I definitely have some problems depicting is realistic looking architecture. I started out here with the intention of drawing a modern grim looking city with my young friend and her companion gazing out in dismay. Before I knew it I was adding cupolas, balconies, huge curved cutout windows, and an old Chinese tea house on top of what I'd originally thought would be a parking garage. Next will come the trees and flowers, for goodness sake! This may give you an idea of the kind of difficulty I have when I think about the dark story leading to redemption I have in mind compared to the images that appear on the page. Ah well, yesterday I bought some new pencils, two pencil sharpeners (two in the packet), and more paper. It looks like I'll be continuing the process for at least a little while longer if only to discover what the back of my mind is thinking while I'm busy making other plans.
I don't mind cities as places of convenience and for diversion but most modern architecture in North America is beyond boring. When I get right down to it I wish everybody could live in a Hundertwasser neighborhood.
Every so often a video will come along that's longer than 3 minutes and I'm wise enough to know that even that amount of time is too much to ask for a blog visit. Nevertheless, Numb found this recently and I'm going to post it now just so I know where to find it next time I'd like to see something that's very inspiring. It's good to know there are still some kids who understand the value of a cardboard box. You may enjoy it too even if you just bookmark it for later.
Caine's Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.
All the best til next time.
It looks just fine Susan. I wish I could draw!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jams. I wish I could take beautiful photographs.
DeleteYour story world is becoming so inviting, Susan. I hope your heroine gets to live in it some day.
ReplyDeleteThe good thing is that I get to live there while I'm working on it.
DeleteI love your world of interesting, magical places so keep on drawing what the back of your mind tells you!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazingly focused little boy. Must come back and see more of the video as I only watched about half. Great stuff you find, Susan! My bedtime now...
I'm still exploring around the edges, really just talking to myself and hoping something nice develops. I'm glad you're liking it too.
DeleteThe little boy is wonderful but what really got me is just how cool his father was - no interference. That's so rare.
I hope you're not suggesting that the right angles masquerading as apartments currently being erected behind the Towering Slab won't evoke the understated glamour and mystery of Old Europe. And your architecture is perfectly swanky.
ReplyDeleteThere are Towering Slabs everywhere and I hates them.. look like gravestones.
DeleteFor people in the USA to live in a more creative environment we would have to be more creative and not controlled as we are by our corporate overlords. Oh I wish! I hate the ugliness here too. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a shame that the corporate world chose as its architects only those who tried to imitate I.M. Pei. Efficiency isn't what it's all supposed to be about.
DeleteIs that Crow and Company in the hot air balloon?
ReplyDeleteI wish I lived in her world. I think it is magnificent.
Yes :-) I couldn't help myself.
DeleteMe too.
hi there lovie,
ReplyDeletei think this is wonderful as is hunderwasser. ;) he always brings a smile.
thinking of ways you could darken this up and there ARE ways without losing this whimsical facade, if that is what it is. it is so fantastic, i just love it and i also get what you mean about things like a straight line or architecture. forget about it and just draw. perhaps you are "thinking" too much rather than letting it flow....clearly your images are within or you could not draw so beautifully this story i already am reading. much much love-it just hailed like crazy here and as always, perfectly timed for the grapes budding. sighs....xoxoxolinda (google actually locked me out of blogger! the nerve tho i am not surprised....hopeless organization.)
It would be nice to live in a city that's more labyrinthine and organic, wouldn't it? The countryside is best but cities could be so much better. I find straight lines to be so oppressive I hardly ever use them but I can't tell the story without some kind of tension. Are you thinking dark color? I've been considering taking the pictures from pen and ink through to full color as they progress.
DeleteI'm so sorry about the spring storm. I hope the damage wasn't too bad.
xoxo
Just keep at it - you have wonderful artistic talent!
ReplyDeleteI love Hundertwasser too. Just imagine living in a town designed by Hundertwasser and Gaudi ...
Thank you, Francis. You know I appreciate your writing.
DeleteThat would be a pretty wild city to inhabit. I probably wouldn't leave - or maybe couldn't find my way out.
In the Hundertwasser link, I love the giant pumpkins reflected in the pool of water.
ReplyDeleteI hope you and Numb are enjoying some nice spring weather. My vacation started at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon! Yay!
That was my favorite of the pictures at that site too. I also loved seeing the place where the tree grows out of the window again.
DeleteThe weather's been changeable to say the least but there are some flowers now and the walks are much more pleasant. Hurray for you starting a vacation. I hope you get to have some fun.
What is more boring and depressing than the skyline of a present day city. Your id knows best- if you want to darkening it a few ominous clouds might do the trick; however we all have to go where the writing or the drawings takes us - we really don't have control of our stories. Can't wait to see more.
ReplyDeletethe Ol'Buzzard
I think our cities are generally pretty depressing places too. Somewhere the developers got off on the wrong foot but it's regular people who live with the consequences.
DeleteAs for the story, we'll see where it leads. I'm looking forward to knowing more too. Thanks, ol'B
that boy is an engineer. and a really sweet kid. loved this. and i love your city. we should put you in charge of Halifax's building code requirements. A few standards to adhere to:
ReplyDelete1. no ugly boxes
2. large fields for landing pads for hot air balloons in every neighborhood
3. required seating on roofs for children and pets
4. crow roosts mandatory
5. penalties for cutting down trees
6. tax breaks for planting flowers and veggies
Oh, I'm so glad you watched the movie. It was just too good not to share.
ReplyDeleteI'd be more than willing to take on the job of city planner but I'd need the clout of a modern Napoleon. First, it would be necessary to rid the place of a few irredeemably ugly monstrosities and re-order some streets. Then I'd work to the standards you mentioned. Thanks!
I LOVED that movie - a great last thing to see before going to sleep for the night. Thank you so much for posting it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love the way your drawings go down Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser lane. I have long felt his work holds the key to my own deepest interior garden, and I am going to find the way in someday.
I'm glad you got to enjoy it, Steve.
DeleteI've been looking for that lane a long time too. Maybe some day we and our friends will meet at a terrace cafe there.
I wanted to come back to tell you that I saw Cain's Arcade on my daughter-in-law's facebook page and it was one of the most heartwarming and amazing story of everyday magic; the type of magic that often goes unnoticed.
ReplyDeleteDid you know that something like $145,000 was raised for his college fund as a result of the discovery of Caine's creativity? That's a different kind of magic.
What a wonderful, awe-inspiring story!
Love,
G
I'm really glad you got to see the video. Cain is an absolute marvel and so is his dad. I'm sure he'll always remember the day everyone came to play his games and it's most cool he won himself new friends and a college fund.
DeleteYikes!
Much love xoxo