The Wizard of Tyr Moel

The imaginary Court of Tyr Moel wasn't all girls. They had as many signors as damsels, and I did their portraits too. This one was the Court Wizard, in his robes of Tyr Moel's heraldic blue, holding his staff and his copy of the arcane book, the "Necronomicon." Even back then, this portrait reminded me of a wizard at his high school graduation, holding his yearbook. Many of the Court were indeed just past high school age, and in fact the Court was disbanded as the members went off to college and careers.

"Wizard of Tyr Moel" was watercolor on Fabriano paper, 3 1/2" x 5 1/2", spring 1979.

Waterford Colors

A few days ago I posted the ink drawing of this 19th-century house in Waterford, Virginia. Here it is "colorized" in watercolor. This technique of technical pen drawing colored with watercolor on absorbent Fabriano paper is an old format which I used back in the 70s. I've revived it for my current Virginia wine and landscape series and it seems to be working well. I am hoping to show these in a gallery in Leesburg as well as at the Village Winery in Waterford.

Waterford house drawing is watercolor and ink on Fabriano paper, 8" x 10", September 2011.

The Champion of Tyr Moel

In this little role-playing world of the Court of Tyr Moel, the Queen's Champion was a heroic swashbuckler girl named Lisa. It was her job to protect the Kingdom and to answer the challenges of warlike rivals. The official colors of Tyr Moel were royal blue and white so the Champion dressed in this livery, including a spiffy (but imaginary) blue hat with a white feather. Lisa was equipped with a number of weapons including a fighting staff. The Siamese cat was a real cat that was Lisa's pet at the time.

This image needed extensive Photoshop restoration. The original photograph was bad and much of the color has faded from these 30-year-old color slides. Lisa still lives in northern Massachusetts and I wonder whether she and the others still have the tiny portraits I made for them.

Lisa's miniature portrait is watercolor on Fabriano paper, 3 1/2" x 5 1/2", fall 1981.

The Queen of Tyr Moel

An age ago, before public Internet, before cell phones, before iPods, even before widespread use of personal computers, I was a member of a club of young people who ran a kind of private "S.C.A" of Renaissance role-playing. They put on costumes, had parties, and created games and ceremonies for their roles. They chose a young lady from their ranks and elected her Queen. The name of their kingdom was "Tyr Moel," pronounced "turmoil."

I was their court artist. I was tasked to create miniature portraits for each one of the group, Tarot-card-like images inspired by the "Trumps" of Roger Zelazny's "Amber" series. I portrayed them with idealized but identifiable faces and figures, dressed in the costumes of their choice. In the world of art, they could have whatever magical creature or thing they pleased. Since this group all had something to do with Lowell, a city in northeastern Massachusetts, I called this set of card portraits the "Lowell Trumps."

Here is Queen Kate, in royal blue and gold, holding her pet dragonette which is presenting her with a blue flower.

Lowell Trumps are ink and watercolor on Fabriano paper, 3 1/2" x 5 1/2". This one was done in the spring of 1979.

Waterford House

Waterford, Virginia, home of the "Village Winery" with its apple and elderberry wines, is one of my architectural destinations. It's full of beautiful old 19th and even 18th century houses, many of which have wood-columned porches which I love. This town was bypassed by developers after the Civil War due to political reasons, and as a result has remained old and not very active, although it was for a while in the 20th century a writers' and artists' colony. Every year the town explodes for one weekend in October when a huge arts and crafts festival takes place there. The rest of the year it is filled with a quiet, older population, most of them commuters to the urban areas.

I did a lot of photography in Waterford, something which is a popular tourist pastime. I'd like to sit in the town and draw on site, but it isn't always possible and the cold weather is just around the corner (sigh). So I draw the town from my photographs, as I did with this fine restored old house. Some art schools and galleries refuse to consider a drawing or painting from a photograph to be "real art," only commercial art; an image must only be done from life, direct viewing, on site. Fortunately other art concerns are not as picky and I am hoping that this architectural study, along with others, will be shown on a gallery wall. I plan to add some color to this, but here's the inks alone for now.

Waterford house drawing is 8" x 10", brown ink in Rapidograph technical pen, September 8-9, 2011.

Cars in the Rain

As I was coming home from Mena's bagel and doughnut shop, I became imbedded in very slow-moving traffic. A mile up the road, there must have been a flood or an accident, in torrential rain that did not let up for hours. So what do I do when sitting in traffic, immobile for many minutes at a time? Draw, of course. I have a couple of sketchbooks in my car for these moments. Here are the cars in the rain, the suburban deluge. Eventually I was able to leave that road and go home via a back way. When I got home I found the backyard and swimming pool flooded with silty water. Fortunately, I don't have to clean it up, someone else will do that work. The pool is closed for the fall, anyway. I'm glad my car doesn't leak. That might get water on the drawing.

"Cars in the Rain" is ink on sketchbook page, 6" x 4", September 8, 2011.

The Audient Void

I do album covers for my ambient music-making friends. Well, they are virtual album covers as they will never be printed on CD labels and no CD will be produced. All the sounds are directly downloaded to the listener's computer. Nevertheless the identifying illustrations are done in a square format which could be printed if you wanted to.

"Tange" is a Scottish musician, inspired by "Tangerine Dream," who creates long spacey pieces of electronic sound, some with a beat and some without. I've already done a couple of album covers for him and this is another one. "I will tell the audient void" is a quote from H.P. Lovecraft but the quality of the two pieces in this album isn't scary or Lovecraftian at all, it's like gazing into the ripples in a pool of starry water. I tried to get that feeling with this digital abstraction. This is only a first draft, so he may ask for some changes. Eventually he will release this album, with or without the writing on the "cover" art.

Tange's album cover is Photoshop, 4.8" x 4.8", September 8, 2011.