Works in Progress and the Workings of my Mind

When a Homage’ can be a Work in Progress.

I always remember the advice I got from a tutor, many years ago:

When the ideas aren’t flowing, keep drawing, even if it’s only a sketch of the view from your window, or the milk carton in your fridge. Sometimes the mind can come up with some amazing stuff when your hands are occupied.

And this is what I had in mind when I decided to have a go at Illustration Friday this week.

The prompt?

Homage.

Which, of course, got me thinking; I mean, should I try for a homage of a person, or an artist, or artistic style? In an effort to get the creative juices going, I looked up the word ( using the power of google ;-P ) and came up with this, an old entry from Webster’s dictionary:


Definition:

\Hom"age\, n. [OF. homage, homenage, F. hommage, LL.
hominaticum, homenaticum, from L. homo a man, LL. also, a
client, servant, vassal; akin to L. humus earth, Gr.? on the
ground, and E. groom in bridegroom. Cf. {Bridegroom},
{Human}.]

1. (Feud. Law) A symbolical acknowledgment made by a feudal
tenant to, and in the presence of, his lord, on receiving
investiture of fee, or coming to it by succession, that he
was his man, or vassal; profession of fealty to a
sovereign.

2. Respect or reverential regard; deference; especially,
respect paid by external action; obeisance.

All things in heaven and earth do her [Law] homage.
--Hooker.

I sought no homage from the race that write. --Pope.

3. Reverence directed to the Supreme Being; reverential
worship; devout affection. --Chaucer.

Syn: Fealty; submission; reverence; honor; respect.

Usage: {Homage}, {Fealty}. Homage was originally the act of a
feudal tenant by which he declared himself, on his
knees, to be the hommage or bondman of the lord; hence
the term is used to denote reverential submission or
respect. Fealty was originally the fidelity of such a
tenant to his lord, and hence the term denotes a
faithful and solemn adherence to the obligations we
owe to superior power or authority. We pay our homage
to men of pre["e]minent usefulness and virtue, and
profess our fealty to the principles by which they
have been guided.

Go, go with homage yon proud victors meet ! Go,
lie like dogs beneath your masters' feet !
--Dryden.

Man, disobeying, Disloyal, breaks his fealty,
and sins Against the high supremacy of heaven.
--Milton.


\Hom"age\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Homaged}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Homaging}.] [Cf. OF. hommager.]
1. To pay reverence to by external action. [R.]

2. To cause to pay homage. [Obs.] --Cowley

So, when we pay homage to someone, are we truly giving fealty? Is an artist giving up their free will to the original concept? I started thinking about icons, and the double meaning there, too, and my brain went off on a total tangent. It quickly became clear, to me, that my homage may not be a homage at all, but an allegory about they way we look at the world, and who we consider worthy of fealty, nowadays. Who, exactly, do we bow down to?

Our leaders, our Gods, Posh and Becks?


So, first came the doodle. For me, the first image that came to mind was Marilyn Monroe, one of the biggest cultural icons of the 20th century, and still a strong influence. I seem to see her image everywhere. On posters, on bags and purses, even cutlery. What is that, if not homage? I mean, when you think of a blonde in a white dress, who comes to mind?

I used the 'triptych' format on purpose, It was a art form developed to facilitate worship and prayer after all, and painted my 'Marilyn' figure.

All Hail Marilyn Monroe...

I then decided to play with the idea some more and got out my water colours.

I had great fun with this, with some rather silly touches (Like my tiny figures in the top corners wiith shades) and decided to work some more with the composition on a larger format


Which is how I ended up transferring this composition to acrylic on canvas board - still not finished, as you can see. Hopefully, it will be finished by Friday. I tend to take forever to finish a piece to my satisfaction!




And Now for Other Pages From my Idea Pad


Something Fishy Happening Here?

I was playing around with illustrative styles, and came up with this, which may actually make it out of my sketchpad, and become a proper piece.

I like the connection between the waves and the figure; aquatic without wandering in to the realms of the mermaid (although there may be a selkie element) and my free floating fish do appeal to me...





Ratty Strikes Again

And my habit of have an inner narrative going, while doodling, strikes again. Usually, it all disappears from my head the moment I realise what I‘m doing, but sometimes I remember snippets. Like for ratty here….








And my Other Work in Progress….

And I even made a wee bit of progress in that other Work in Progress I’m in the midst of. I think I’ll call it ‘Storm Coming’, it seems apt:




You know, I think I may have to come to terms with the idea that I may be a surrealist at heart….