Time to get back to being inspired and inspiring others!
Oh. my. gosh.
I am so in love with George R. R. Martin's series A Song of Ice & Fire
. Last month HBO premiered Game of Thrones,
a series based on the books. I was only able to watch one episode before I left on my travels to the East Coast. Of course, I recorded all the episodes but I couldn't wait until I returned to find out what happened next. So I bought the books. Best fantasy writing since Tolkien. And that's saying a lot because he's my favorite writer, like ever! I'm diggin' every second of this story, both in written form and in HBO's amazingly created series. And, it's inspired my art. Here are a few pages I did in my Doll Dreams journal while I was in Maryland. Inspired by Martin and his first book, Game of Thrones.
Winter is Coming
Colored pencil, ink, acrylic
This is a big journal, too big for the scanner which means even clicking on the image, you probably can't read the words. On the left page, I wrote a quote by George R.R. Martin. One that I completely and utterly agree with:
Fantasy is silver and scarlet, indigo and azure, obsidian veined with gold and lapis lazuli.
Reality is plywood and plastic, done up in mud brown and olive drab.
Fantasy tastes of habaneros and honey, cinnamon and cloves; rare red meat and wines as sweet as summer.
Reality is beans and tofu and ashes at the end. Reality is the strip malls of Burbank, the smokestacks of Cleveland, a parking garage in Newark.
Fantasy is the towers of Minas Tirith, the ancient stones of Gormenghast, the halls of Camelot.
Fantasy flies on the wings of Icarus. Reality on Southwest Airlines.
Why do our dreams become so much smaller when they finally come true?
We read fantasy to find the colors again. To taste the strong spices and hear the songs the Sirens sang.
There is something old and true in fantasy that speaks to something deep within us, to the child who dreamt that one day he would hunt the forests of the night, and feast beneath the hollow hills, and find a love to last forever, somewhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La.
They can keep their heaven. When I die, I'd sooner go to Middle Earth.
~George R.R. Martin
Then I added the line "Why so sad, daughter of the forests old?"
On the right page, I included a line from the series:
Winter is Coming...
Fear is for the winter when the snows fall a hundred feet deep.
Fear is for the long night when the sun hides for years and children are born and live and die all in darkness. That is the time for fear, when the White Walkers move through the woods.
~Old Nan
Stark Sisters
pencil, colored pencil, acrylic
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