Monday, March 31, 2008

Illustration friday - Homage

Its been ages since I took part in Illustration Friday but 'homage' was the first topic for ages that appealed to me.
I decided to do something of an homage to Leonardo da Vinci and my first thought was to make a Vitruvian man type thing based on a weevil monster from the BBC sci-fi series Torchwood.
I decided against that idea, although its somehow really appealing, so I might tackle it another time.

I wanted to continue with the da Vinci theme so I thought about the Mona Lisa [la Joconde in French].

The painting is now very dark due to oxidised paints and varnishes but there was probably a lot of ultramarine blue used in the original work, especially in the glazes of the background. Ultramarine was a very fashionable [and expensive] pigment derived from the gemstone lapis lazuli used by artists at the time, including da Vinci. I love the intense blue colour, hence the colour of my crocodile character's dress.

I have never managed to get the the Louvre, its on my to-do list, so i haven't actually seen the painting in real life . Until this weekend, I hadn't really studied the painting much at all so I've discovered quite a lot of new information about the Mona Lisa.

This is based on my idea of what the Mona Lisa would have been like if she had been an enigmatically smiling crocodile rather than Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a cloth merchant, so its definitely not intended to be slavish re-interpretation.



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8 comments:

Magpie Magic said...

What a fun idea. Really like this one. It still has the 'Mona Lisa' feel about it, even as a crocodile. I think Leonardo would have liked it too. :-)

tascha said...

Oh I just love this!

Cara Carmina said...

LOL!!!! really cool homage! congrats!!!!


www.caracarmina.blogspot.com

shaky mouse said...

ahh the enigmatic smile of a crocodile.. :)

great illustration! thanks for dropping by my blog

Roberta said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Roberta said...

Well.. she's always had a very mysterious smile. Now we know why!
Cute illustration.

thedoodlegirl said...

This is SO clever and fun to look at! What a great imagination you have. I love this illo and your blog! :)

Bobo said...

She is gorgeous too. You capture the soul of it.