illustration

The Princess

by
A person with flowing red fabric behind them poses dramatically over a table with a candle in a holder. The person has wavy grayish hair and a fierce expression. The background is neutral, emphasizing the dynamic fabric and candle.

The muse of painting has deserted me. I’m not sure when she’ll be back. No worries, her sister the muse of digital artistry is alive and well!

I’ve been doing digital work for about a month, and have already become quite prolific. All of my work is available on my Instagram feed @robmedleyart. I’ll be posting those creations here over the next few days.

My latest work is entitled “The Princess.” It’s about incorporating and celebrating women of color into classic fairy-tales, which seem to be boringly cast full of white characters. There’s so much diversity in the world that I find it tragic our folklore doesn’t follow suit.

Anyway, there are two versions of the Princess. The first one I thought was super beautiful, but in discussing her with my friends, found that I was buying into tropes that were tired and dated.

So, I went back to the virtual drawing board. I’m much more pleased with the results of version two.

Both are beautiful, but I feel there is more going on in the latter and the scene feels more alive.

It’s Been a Minute

by
A woman with dark hair tied up in a bun is crouched on the ground, holding a long sword over her shoulder. With intense makeup and bold red lipstick, she wears a serious expression. It’s been a minute since she trained here, in an outdoor concrete area with walls, clad in her sleeveless outfit.

I just looked at my site and saw my last article was published in April of 2018, almost a year ago. For those that held on, thank you!

Where did I go? The short answer is ‘nowhere’; which is both true and ironic. I’ve been working a lot. Since being mortal is part of the human condition, I had to eat, pay rent, etc., and as we all know, art doesn’t a living make, unless you know people, have rich parents, or are talented enough to rise above the noise of the global art market – a billion artists souls vying for your eyeball time.

I haven’t been painting on canvas, per se. Like her musical sister in 2013, that Muse packed her bags and left me for brighter pigments. I’ve had a canvas on by easel since April, but all I’ve managed to do is hit it now and then with a duster and compressed air.

I have been exploring the other arts, like digital illustration, writing, and painting miniatures (which I did as a teenager). I’ve also been taking the aforesaid miniatures and composing photographic scenes, which is fun in itself.

Here’s some of the work I’ve been doing. I usually post to Instagram first, but since I’m paying for this site, I might as well use it, eh?

So, have I been productive? That depends on what one considers art. I’ll leave that for you to decide. Some day, canvas muse may come back, or rekindle as the musical muse did briefly, but I’ll always be doing something creative.