This was a hard one to paint, emotionally. I love dragonflys and hate spiders. especially here in Australia where spiders are as big as your hand. It's true! The stories you hear - they're all true. Well, they're not all deadly but they're still scary as hell!
When I was in high school in Montreal and would stay at my friend's house, if there were any spiders she would make me kill them with a shoe before we went to sleep. Of course these were about the size of your little finger. When she came out to Australia for my wedding this year, she said "will you kill all the spiders for me?" ...um, well, er.... it's different here.... but I did my best. We had a resident huntsman spider (those are the big ones, and the name just inspires confidence doesn't it?) which my husband dealt with. Then I sprayed this stuff all around the house which is supposed to create an "invisible barrier" for all insects. Well I must have barrier'd them all in because in the ensuing few days I never saw so many creatures in the house!! By the time my friend arrived i had gotten rid of most of them, but one night we are sitting chatting with my brother and he looks up and says with great awe 'oh kim there's this massive huntsman behind you' - I wouldn't let my friend look. It was huge. It's better not to have those images in your head.
Looking at this piece now after this story I think I could have made the spider bigger and scarier, or maybe even just have done a few big legs coming out of the corner. But maybe it's better like this, just for my own peace of mind...
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A Year Ago…
2 years ago
17 comments:
Great! I love the use of color to focus your eye on the "victim"! Good story too - I grew up with HUGE spiders in Florida too. And I never did want to go back and live there.
Hi I don't remember haw I found your blog. I really like it!
You scare me with this spider story!
but fortunately I live in the other side of the world, in Argentina!!!
Great piece! So much metaphor!
I look forward to see what's next.
Fantastic colors here! The dragonfly actually does look a little bit panicked. Great idea and illustration!
Eeww! That story has given me the shivers! I love the red in this, makes it feel more ominous!
Your spider story had me laughing! Spiders named huntsman?!?! How incredibly terrifying! I'm imagining spiders the size of my head with little pith helmets, hunting implements (bows and arrows, axes, whatnot), and toothy scowls.
Your illustration is incredible, by the way. :) Your backgrounds are works of art by themselves. It's perfect how this one gets darker near the spider ... like it's hiding.
like ur colors and the look on the Dfly
I like the simplicity and loose feel on this- the red and purples work well for the background!
I think that dragonfly is bluffing. I don't think he's caught at all. I think he's binding his time, about to POUNCE!
Wonderful colors and composition. I like how they eye is drawn to the poor stuck dragonfly. The web is well done too. I don't know how I'd react to a spider as big as my hand...I think I'd run away before i had time to think about it!
I'm getting the creeps just reading about those Aussie spiders! Nice illo and great story!
Great tension and drama in this scene. Love the sinister quality the red background imparts! Hope the dragonfly gets away!
Nice! I like the colors, and the story too.
Anette
www.wynlen.no
Great colors!
Great story Lil Kim! Here's a friend's true story: A friend of mine was in Equador when her room-mate ran forehead first into a low-hanging tree limb. They finished the short walk to her apt. and her roomie went to the bathroom, then came out screaming. Apparently a Bird-Eating Spider (about 8-10 in. leg span) landed in her hair when she hit the branch (she had a white girls Afro), and crawled up on the wall behind the toilet when she sat down. My friend threw a shoe at it when it came scuttling out of the bathroom after them, and knocked it silly. In a flash she ran up with the other shoe and bashed into pulp.
Not pretty! It's scary to think that there are critters that big out there, but they're out there.
Many thanks for visiting me at my blog, and for your kindness.
Fun illo's, I feel sorry for the dragonfly. I've seen a dragonfly that was about 6" long head to tail. It hit my windshield at 65 mph. Again, not pretty! That's my story.
love the spider story...and illo to boot...red is a great visual...
Nice job! I love your style. I like the way you use color to the set the mood of the piece
wow..very creative..poor fly...really liked this one!!
-Marjorie
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