The gardenkeeper

My dad was a landscape artist. He created a lovely natural oasis in the backyard complete with fish ponds, waterfalls, and brick-lined paths. There was a covered swing, and birdfeeders, and lots and lots of daylillies. I draw bears whenever I miss him, because he was very much like a bear. He was shaped like one, and he could be gruff when hungry or irritated, and downright fierce if his family was threatened. He also had a soft side–a warm and tender and cuddly, huggy side, and a very big heart.

This is my final project for Eccentric Illustration; the theme was “Evoking Emotion.” The timing was uncanny, falling around the first anniversary of losing my dad.

11.26.54 — 12.13.12

 

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What does a lampdeer eat?

 

Lampdeer eat the lightbulb fruit from neon sign trees, of course. My latest assignment for the AAU class: surrealism. Surrealism and I are old friends, dear friends. One idea that I came up with was of lamp-headed deer and the sort of environment they might inhabit. I imagined them grazing in the Neon Boneyard in Las Vegas, and let that idea carry forward. It wasn’t until I went “home” for Thanksgiving that I found the inspiration for the deer portion of the lampbeasts… And there it was, mounted to the wall in my brother’s new living room. I had forgotten that a predilection for taxidermy runs strong in the males of my people.

IF :: Farewell

Angie Brown © 2013

Goodbye, Penelope. Welcome, Thomas! Illustration Friday has had a change in management, but will continue on. This week’s topic is farewell. I did this little drawing last week as a mother’s day gift for my stepmom. It’s a bit of a family portrait really– the bear, of course, is my dad– note the blue slippers. Over on my other blog  (a blog about a book about a dog), I’ve posted it as a coloring page, in case any little kiddos out there want to make something nice for mom this year.

Thanks for popping in!

There might be bears.

“…Maybe even BEARS!” Dad roared, and Annabelle giggled.

The Illustration Friday topic this week is eye glasses. This is Annabelle’s dad, for my children’s book in progress, Annabelle & the Bear. Obviously I need to go back and sort out his left hand (top). I liked it fine until I got his right hand drawn and it was so much better…

I’ll be posting more from this story and hopefully an update on the other book Loupotamus on Square Dog, Round World sometime this week. Melissa (the writer) was in town last week and we made much progress on the story line. I’ve been developing the storyboard while watching Dr.Who on my laptop every night. It’s going well so far, but I still have a long way to go– Allons-y!