Sunday, January 10, 2010

Lady of the Lake


Watercolor
30 x 22

The Lady of the Lake, a classic subject that I have stayed away from until now. So let me wade into the waters with this one. (See how I worked the water theme in there. Darn he's clever. Please pardon me, all this cold weather seems to be effecting my brain. Back to the scheduled programming.) She's usually depicted in a boat or sometimes just as an arm sticking up out of the water with a sword. Well, I think she deserves to be seen as more that just an arm besides I had this really good photo of a full body to work with. And a boat, c'mon seriously. This is magic, she don't need no stinking boat.

You may be wondering about the sword, or in this case, the lack thereof. I wasn't worthy of seeing it. Yeah, I'm going with that. It's a much better answer than it honestly never occurred to me to include it. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Anyway, now that it's been pointed out to me that the sword is missing I'm considering adding it. I don't think it is really needed though.

And let me once again thank the lovely Elandria. You may remember her from this You would have had to have been paying really good attention or have a really good memory though. Keep her in mind, she may be showing up again to reprise this role and others.

10 comments:

Billie Crain said...

Wow...this is brilliant, Dave. I don't think she needs a sword either. Love the landscape work(which right now is proving to be a nemesis for me)and the reflections in the water are wonderful.:)

Dave B said...

Thank you once again. I'm relatively pleased with this one which us unusual for me. The second version didn't come out so well. Somewhere along the line I expect there will be a second version of the second version.

I should probably do more straight landscapes. People seem to be shying away from pictures with people they don't know. Maybe that's the Sears Portrait Studio syndrome showing up. Whatever, figures just give so much more story telling possibilities.

Thanks for dropping by.

Elizabeth Seaver said...

Hey, you're an artist. You can make your own stinking rules!

I like your interpretation of the Lady. It's nice to see more of her than the arm, and the water is wonderfully rendered.

Dave B said...

Anders Zorn never referred to himself as an artist. He called himself a painter while artists were people like Rembrandt and Velazquez. Given that, I think I'm just a humble creator of images. That sounds about right. I can still make up my own rules to a point though.

Since this isn't a true illustration of the story I felt no need to follow it too closely. Let's think about the Lady herself, what's she do when she's not handing out or taking back swords? I mean, she only did it once so I'm thinking she's got a lot of time on her presumably immortal hands. I'm thinking she uses that time to take watch over the lake. There's a couple more versions rattling around in my mind, neither of which involve a sword. I'll get to them someday maybe.

Glad you like it. Thanks for dropping by and taking the time to comment.

Arti said...

I am new to your blog, Dave.You are a tremendous artist/ painter/creatot of images( whatever you choose to be called:));I like your work very much.It has illustrative quality and the imagery of a painter.Glad I visited.
Arti

Dave B said...

I've always considered myself a storyteller so the illustrative comment is a definite compliment to me. So thanks.

I'm glad you stopped by, and hope you'll be back. I keep trying to be more active here, but it doesn't seem to be working out. Photographing drawings and paintings is not my favorite activity especially when the lighting refuses to cooperate.

Scott R said...

very nice, love the picture. She doesn't need a sword.

Dave B said...

Thanks. I really do like it better swordless, less aggressive and more peaceful which was where I was going.

Thanks for dropping by.

d00mg1rl said...

Like the title, the image has an air of mystery that only adds to it.

With her arms stretched out, she looks very humble, you could almost imagine she has just handed the sword over and is bowing to Arthur.

Dave B said...

You're reading all kind of things into this, good. That's what I want viewers to do. Been thinking about doing a post dedicated to storytelling.