Universe: an Illustration Friday Submission

Universe

I wonder if tonight's "brand new" meteor shower is the inspiration for for this week's Illustration Friday challenge theme?

No matter, I immediately thought of "Foolish Mandala" a mixed media painting I did several years ago.  "Foolish Mandala" was inspired by the first card in a Tarot Deck, The Fool.

In the tarot card the subject is a youth with head in clouds ignoring the little dog that tries to keep him from stepping off a cliff.

I'm working on hand woodcut printing my own tarot deck and had developed several sketches.  Foolish Mandala is a derivative work from those sketches.  I wanted to convey the concept of taking a leap of faith with the fool having stepped off the cliff into the unknown-the void...  In my image I tried to create a paradoxical effect...is he falling away from the viewer or stepping out of the void toward the viewer?

You can view other artist's illustrations of the concept of Universe in the "Illustration Friday" website at:

http://illustrationfriday.com/

or just click on the words "Illustration Friday" anywhere within this blog...

TIME Some Nibblefest ACEOs

I created a tiny print for this month's Nibblefest Art Challenge.  Nibblefest is a monthly eBay art challenge with a new theme each month.  The challenge is to create 1 to 3 works within the theme and list them on eBay with a starting bid of 99 cents.  The artists to get the most bidders (biddiers not bids) to battle over one of their artworks wins the challenge.

this is a little scrap of battleship linoleum i carved to make the open edition of ACEO size prints on various scraps of printmaking papers.

This was my setup while printing the ACEOs

a digitally watermarked version on a scrap of Rives BFK light. The text in the book is not in the original.  I put it in the scan.  I actually left the book pages blank so that I could personalize each print as I see fit...

blue time doesn't have any legible text in the book pages.  I did draw a bug on the left page when I colored the print using a new art product. To see the image without the digital watermark at the eBay listing click the following link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231237516817

I drew an orchid in the left page of Green Time. I really really really love the Inktense water soluble color pencils I used to color these little Nibblefests. You can see what this looks like without digital watermarks at it's eBay listing:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231237519353

I drew some leaves on the left page of the book in Violet Time.  The Inktense color pencils are highly pigmented and brighter than standard water color pencils yet they are still translucent and can be layered and used with watercolor paints. This one is listed without the digital watermarks on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231237518318

A lot of really great artists participate in the Nibblefest eBay Art Challenge.  At least on of three listing by each artist must be an original artwork so it's a great opportunity to collect original fine art at an affordable price!  Just search NFAC on eBay between the 20th and the 27th of each month to see the theme and artworks for that month.