Digital Painting

Context and Variations

Thinking of objects for which we have strong expectations, I looked outside at the grass and the water beyond. We expect the lawn to be green and water to be blue and the sky as well (there are other common colors for both, but these are the default colors we assign). Holiday lanterns are red in more than one culture. I still have some red lanterns from National Holiday Celebrations when I was a kid in Switzerland.

So here is the original painting, emphasizing the default colors.

My thoughts wandered to "River of Blood". This shows up in many mythologies, and it always means doom at an apocalyptic scale. In Nature, lava rivers are a real-world danger, and they are bright red, dark red, turning black as the lava cools. I think these are colors and images that might speak to many, if not all, cultures. A dark, gray sky is always threatening, and when it reflects the red of the river, we are duly doomed. If the darkness of the lanterns and the rocks don't spell death, then the white band, cracking the sky to open for lighting or the final doorway might.

Wet Coyote

I did a story about a Coyote for Storyboarding and needed to practice making clouds. And coyotes.
I like how the clouds turned out, and the coyote is better than my previous attempts. Also, I painted.

Here is the narrative used: https://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/08/coyote_and_the_columbia.html

Well, this is a one-panel story, so the story for this would be something like: "Dark clouds cover the sky and the earth. It's raining, and coyote gets very wet. Coyote does not like being wet, but there is nowhere for him to go, so he is just sad.

Mandatory Self Portrait

The color of my clothing, which I choose deliberately, is therefore an expression of the culture I live in. Going from blue to black is going from color to darkness.
Black is dark.
Black eyes are disconcerting, because historically, Western art paints eyes with white and pupils.
A black dragon is extra threatening through context, and red fire is aggressive and hurtful, through context.

Blue is a color that does not stand out, dark blue is for men and mourning, and serious business.
Blue in blue is the deep dark of the ocean. It is night, but not death, disappearance, but not loss.