Newest piece

I love my art room - it's a three-season room built onto what used to be the upstairs patio. But we're currently in the fourth season, so my old farmhouse oil painting is going to have to wait. I don't like bringing my easel into the kitchen and oh...ok fine--I've grown tired of it and need to work on something else before I go back and finish it. Yah, that's how I roll. But I WILL finish it. And I will post it when I do.

But anyway, I've been rolling this idea for an illustration around in my head for awhile now and I've sketched and sketched but cannot come up with a good composition (where to place figures, what angle and perspective the background is going, what direction the guestures are pointing and how they relate to each other - all things that dictate how someone viewing a piece of artwork moves their eye about the piece - it's all very dilebrate.) My inspiration comes from a story told by a man that I am currently doing the film editing on for his filmed autobiography. His great-great Grandfather was 19 and living in England, joined the LDS church, decided to come to America and cross the plains with the Willy Handcart Company to live in UT. His girlfriend also joined and wanted to come to America, so their parents said "Well, you might as well get married." So these kids got married, got on the boat together and started out on their adventure. The only thing he brought with him was his violin and the only thing she brought was her wedding dress, which she wore crossing the ocean. When I heard this story, an image of them dancing on a ship instantly came to mind - he: playing his violin and she: dancing in her wedding dress. Two crazy kids in love out on the open sea, gearing up to face the unknown. I related to this young woman - young, happy and naive, with tons of scary things ahead, things she didn't even know were out there waiting for her to experice, go through and learn from. So anyway, the story really touched me, as did the image but I haven't been able to come up with anything yet - the direction of his violin bow always looks like it's going to stab her and I don't want it pointing the other way or it just shoots your eye right off the page. I'll let you know when I come up with something and I'll post my initial sketches if you're interested in the process. If not, well, don't read it.