Under the Stars

Artist: Angie

Angie drew the above when she attended my hair party (a party to celebrate the shaving of my head after my hair had grown to a ridiculous length). I don’t know too much about this picture, the above title is not Angie’s but one I made up myself. What I do remember Angie telling me is that the picture was of her watching the stars, something that she enjoyed doing while she was at camp.

Not only do I think it’s a great picture, it’s also the only one I have which I also have a picture of the artist drawing, and I have to thank Chantal’s frequent picture taking for that.

The End is Near

Artist: Lisa

If you’ve been frequently visiting House of Pastels, you’ll have noticed that every picture has a story behind it (as the tag line to this blog indicates), and that many of the pictures themselves have a particular meaning. Though I tend to explain the meaning behind the pictures, this is similar to flipping to the back of a textbook to find answers to a problem that you haven’t tried; you’re cheating yourself out of something important.

Really, I would hope that you would first look at the picture and try to figure out what it means to you. As is the case with song lyrics, you can often fit the art to a specific element of your own life. So give it a try: What does the above picture mean? Does it have any meaning for you in particular? Why or why not?

I don’t believe that you’ve actually done this, so I’m giving you another chance to try it out before I continue.

If you have the privilege of personally knowing who the artist is, then it’s a good idea to take into account their personality when considering their work. If Lisa was suicidal or if she had suicide touch her life very strongly, then a reasonable guess would be that the title was referring to the end of one’s life. The dark morose cityscape may be a comment on the loneliness found in a big city. The clock, with far too many hands, might be saying that even the artist is unsure when exactly the end will come, as the time is illegible.

This though, is not the case for Lisa’s drawing. Talking to her, she told me that the drawing is about not having enough time to do the numerous tasks she had at the time. A feeling I have had before along with most university student.

I encourage you to feel for yourself the pictures found here at House of Pastels, and if it turns out to be different form the artist’s view, do post a comment about your own opinion.

Getting There

Artist: Mel I.

Over the summer, I went on a week-long camping trip with my friends Mel, Mike, and Mike’s mom. Our trip consisted of a 70-80 km hike around Killarney; not a huge distance, but Killarney itself is ridiculously hilly (you could even say “mountainy”) area. If you’ve been there, you know what I’m talking about, if you haven’t, well then I’ll have to take you camping this summer.

Of course, I had a lot of free time on the trip, so I made sure to bring some paper and pastels with me. I ended up doing 3 drawings, but Mel produced 5 in the same amount of time, hers probably each better than any of mine (this shouldn’t be a surprise, in no way am I proficient with pastels, even after 3 or so years of practice).

Out of all the pictures we drew, this is the only one that attempted to capture the feeling of our hike. Killarney itself being a baby mountain range meant that we were constantly ascending then descending hills. After a few hours, with a 40-50 pound bag on your shoulders, the process can become a physically painful one. It’s no wonder that we felt like we were walking towards some giant rainbow at the end of trail.

As an interesting note, Mel drew each person in their favourite colour (though not the backpacks, she drew those as they were). Try to figure out who’s who.

Finding one’s way

Artist: Gaven

I’m pretty sure most people have felt this way before: You know what you want, but you don’t know how to get it. I’m not talking about wanting a television and not knowing how to finance it. I’m talking about having a specific goal, maybe to get a job, get that special girl, or maybe to get past the death of a loved one. All of the above can prove to be difficult to achieve.

That’s what this drawing is about, an individual (in this case me; I had big hair awhile back) trying to find his way. If you look closely, he’s standing on a road that is barely visible, the road being the path he must take to achieve his goal, and the visibility indicating how much of a challenge that it will be.

As a personal note, when I drew this, I was still working my way down this road, but I did find my way to the end. Just one of the many roads that make up all of our lives.