Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Illustration Friday: Boundaries

Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes • Prismacolor Pencils on Strathmore Bristol Vellum

"Now, my dears," said old Mrs. Rabbit one morning, "you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden: your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor."

The animals around my garden have not been heeding their mothers' admonitions about respecting boundaries.  What started as a tentative nibble on a spaghetti squash, has escalated to bold beheading of sunflowers, and brazen feasting on tomatoes.  Are my nighttime visitors squirrels, raccoons...or maybe even rats?  I'm not sure, but when I see their handiwork in the morning, I can't help but picture them more as Beatrix Potter characters than as garden pests.  Fortunately, there are plenty of vegetables for all of us.
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While on the topic of boundaries, I was thinking about how Illustration Friday really transcends all geographic boundaries.  I want to mention two artists and fellow bloggers, well-known to many of you, from distant points on the globe (well, distant from where I live). They're both very generous with their comments, very prolific (I'm convinced that neither one sleeps) and if you haven't visited their blogs, now's the time:

From Hokkaido, Japan: Check out DosankoDebbie's Etegami Notebook. Her artwork is so beautiful and unique. She has multiple blogs (!) and amazing talents, and I learn something from each and every post.

From Newscastle, NSW, Australia, Andrew Finnie. He creates fascinating, beautiful (and sometimes surreal) digital illustrations, and his accompanying text is just as entertaining. And recently, he has blogged about an exhibition of his paintings, which are completely different than his digital work, and are simply sublime. Oh, and he's a surfer and an optometrist in his other life.

Enjoy!

13 comments:

  1. These tomatoes look so real to me -- just as if I could pluck them off my counter top and eat them before anyone else sees!!

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  2. I love the subtlety of the connection between your image and the theme. It is very sweet of you to mention me and my blog.

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  3. Yum. Sweet and smooshy . . . delicious and deliciously drawn.

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  4. Your tomatoes look delicious! I feel inspired:) Think it will have to be tomato, mozzarella and basil for lunch today.

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  5. Yum! Those tomatoes are making me hungry. I envy your gardening abilities and I'm sorry about your little invaders. Lovely!

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  6. Delicious illustration, Sarah! Love the quote from Peter Rabbit - penned by Beatrix Potter not far from the scene in my IF this week - thanks for passing by!

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  7. Those tomatoes look delicious, no wonder Beatrix Potter's friends can't keep away :)

    Found you through the Illustration Friday website and wanted to leave you a quick note to say I love your interpretation of this week's theme. I thought it was a tough one, but you've created a beautiful picture *and* managed to mention Beatrix Potter.

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  8. Your drawing so perfectly captures the warmth of the sun-kissed sweetness of the tomato. Since sun golds are Ken's favorite, I am certain your gorgeous illustration will also become his favorite.

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  9. Sarah, I want to reach in pop one in mouth. Yum! And I so love your connected them to Peter and Mr. McGregor...We have a veggie garden with a gate and I forgot to close it the other day and Matthew found a bunny eating our lettuces... we also have a troop of about 20 turkeys that often come and eat all the bird seed, I chase them away with a big broken rake feeling like Mr. McGregor chasing Peter...Gosh, darn turkeys. As always, lovely!

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  10. Those tomatoes look awesome! I have been enjoying treats of cherry tomatoes lately, such a burst of summer flavor.

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  11. Sarah, you are really a master artist. Beautiful. I'm popping one in my mouth right now!

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  12. I just finished reading about the spirograph in the post above and then I spied your tomatoes and found myself memorised in turn. I never got to play with a Spirograph as a kid, but I am ever so glad you did!

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