What does one do when the chaos of chickens invades one's studio?  Well, to illustrate the Hens and Roosters movement of Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals, I had to take a moment to be with that chaos, to be still with constant movement.  I had to think beyond the cliche, the shortcut summation of them and look at what they were really about, for me and for others.  I thought of one of my good friends who adores chickens and raised them for a while.  I remembered my interactions with her hens and roosters which made me wish I had spent more time really studying them.  But I also remembered my friend's reactions to them, how she cooed to the hens and admired the roosters' fine display.  And I remembered my son's perfect imitation of their sound (which is not a cluck, really, but a soft, pitch-bending tickle) when face to face with chickens when he was only three years old.  They made a connection which I did not know the chickens were capable of.
   On another level, I have been around chickens enough to summon up a profile of their physical energy. Chickens' movement is unique, a kind of flow-stutter-stutter, flow-stutter.  Their eyes seem alien and when stared at, entrance the viewer.  When I recently had the opportunity to act as "inn-keeper" for some hens and their owners who were escaping local forest fires, I was surprised to see how adaptable they were and to find their clucking so soothing.
   And looking at the roosters was not difficult, as they are a staple in the local community here where I live.  They strut around the park and the businesses in old town area freely.  They seem to be inspecting humanity and its menial activity and donating their time to oversee us.  They sport bright colors and a dandy style about them.  They are festive and outspoken and "shy" does not apply.
In my psyche, it felt like the chickens were my subconscious: soft, gentle, discussing secret subjects in the background and hypnotizing if stared at.  The rooster was my conscious, active mind: running the show, crowing orders, wrangling rules and techniques, and pretty impressed with itself (that is, the conscious mind was impressed with itself, not with me, who it quickly discredited!)
   So, to pull off this illustration, I took a deep breath and dove in, without copying from a photo or even trying to give a realistic rendering of the feathered creatures.  I let the music oversee me, setting the scene.  My subconscious guided me in creating the characters and their personalities.  And my conscious mind was in charge of refining and defining the characters, so that the viewer could make out what they were looking at, in the end.  The hens/my subconscious and the roosters/my conscious mind played together and it all worked out.
   See the finished illustration below and be sure to check out my YouTube video of it for another perspective, plus a couple micro-reviews of some sketch books ("The Bird King", by Shaun Tan and "Drawing Is Magic", by John Hendrix) that encourage the interaction of the conscious and subconscious levels of creating.  You will see the link below the illustration.

  

Hens and Roosters video on Melani Grube's Creative Magic channel 

What about your creative process or your everyday life process?  Does the conscious or the subconscious rule the roost?  Or do they live in harmony?  Tell me in the comments below, please.

 

A Peek at a Mermaid from the Carnival of the Animals

Illustration Friday's website definitely keeps me occupied, but this time I had a finished illustration, or at least, a detail from a finished illustration, ready to go.  This week's prompt from this popular art-participation website is "Mermaid".  I also started a series this week, on this blog, of illustrations for The Carnival of the Animals, an orchestral piece by Camille Saint-Saens.  This mermaid detail image is from one of these illustrations, yet to be unveiled.  I am posting one per week on this blog and on my YouTube channel, Creative Magic.  Check out the video, I'll include the link below.
   I know the classical music aficionados out there are scratching their heads and wondering, "What's a mermaid doing in the Carnival of the Animals?"  Well, this is a detail crop from one of the illustrations for this delightful, musical romp through the animal kingdom and you'll just have to hang in there patiently, until I reveal the larger picture.  And even then, you may say, "This is a travesty!".  But that makes things fun, doesn't it?
  So, have a gander at a mermaid and her platypus friend.  (Hey, now, don't start complaining about the platypus not being in the Carnival.  Keep an open mind, please.  This is art, not science, after all.  And don't even get me started on quantum physics.)

           Oh, and now I've got a new "minisode" about this up on my YouTube channel.
                                                You can check it out HERE.


                                         Melani Grube's Creative Magic: Carnival of the Animals

Go ahead.  Complain in the comments.  I can take it.  (Hee hee.)

Carnival of the Animals Series is Here!

  If you've followed this blog, you've seen the illustration I made back in June for an Illustration Friday prompt of "vacation".  But as things often meander and converge in life, so did they in my subconscious.  As I worked, I heard the Aquarium portion of the orchestral suite, "The Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Saens.  It's magical sounding and is often used in movie soundtracks for similar sections of story.  That was the portion of the suite I knew the best and I couldn't even recall all the other animals.  I was intrigued, intrigued enough to consider illustrating the whole piece.
   When I dug up my recording of it, I found there were 13 creatures and a Finale.  Could I really pull this off?  Could my subconscious deliver on prompt, thirteen times?  With continuity?  And produce a Finale piece that referenced each of the creatures? 
   The music entranced me and I was hooked.
   I worked out some random color studies, letting my excess paint spatter onto clean paper.  I looked through the dried spatterworks, staring at and rotating them, searching for the first character: the lion.  "Introduction and March of the Royal Lion" was the exact name of the movement.
   Whoa, watch out!  Lion energy poured into my life.  People were in my face, leading me around, voicing their opinion on how things should go.  I learned the lion energy was fierce and showy and insists on being heard, roar!
   After I produced the lion, little subtle figures started popping out of the background: a frog, a rabbit and three birds.  They contrasted the lion energy with humor, smallness and a very different way of moving in the world.
   The lion energy roared glorious, confident and insistent: I will not be ignored.  He proved to be the perfect herald for the beginning of the tour of Saint-Saens' fantastical creatures.  And check out the video on it in the link below the image.

                                                  Carnival of the Animals: the Lion Video

It's here! The Premiere of Creative Magic

I've started my video blog, Melani Grube's Creative Magic. Catch the premiere, right here. If you love the arts, create or critique the arts or design, create or innovate in any way, you're going to want to tune in. Join in the fun, now.

Melani Grube's Creative Magic

Unfamiliar Aquarium

   This vacation shot comes from deep in the subconscious and has never happened exactly in this way.  But it  has happened many times, in many variations and forms and melded together in this pool of neurons that make up the mind.  I can hear the "Aquarium" movement from Saint-Saen's Carnival of the Animals playing as I look at it.  This image surfaced for Illustration Friday's prompt this week: "vacation".  Happy summer vacation and may yours be compelling and memorable.

Up in the Air

   I'm floating, I'm floating.  Look.  What's that?  Can I get it?  I think so.  Oh, there's something else that's going after it, something flying, dropping and fast.
   What will happen?  We'll see.

   Today's illustration and post are prompted by Illustration Friday's theme this week: Airborne.

Imagine a Selfie

You knew it had to happen, didn't you? A selfie, right here. But it's different. It's all part of the plan.
   Yes, I've been noticing that the more I illustrate, the more the physical world, the actual tactile environment around me changes. I start to see the usual stuff and places all around me with a different light coming from them, different colors, kind of like the color of potential.
   It makes sense, though, if you think about it. We have the physical world we can touch. We have the mental world we can think and plan and analyze and organize. We have the dream world we can imagine.
   When we draw, paint, illustrate from the core, from our unconscious, we take an idea from the dream world and bring it into the physical world. Now it exists in both worlds. We changed our physical world.
   Okay, I could keep going, but let's just sit with that for a while. And here's an illustrated likeness of me. Yeah. There are major changes going on here.