Orator Sapientia has moved to Wordpress!

Orator Sapientia Has moved to Wordpress!

2012-01-22T23:04:00.000-08:00

I will not be posting here on blogger anymore. I will leave this page up to redirect people, but my official artblog is now at the following address:

http://valerieherron.wordpress.com/

Constructing the Sea Witch

2011-07-05T23:12:00.000-07:00

I love reading about the processes of other artists. Most of the time I don't have the foresight to document my process as I work on a piece, but I actually took the time to do it this time. Here are some photos of the process behind my newest painting, Circe:

Circe

watercolor on arches

Valerie Herron 2011

Canthus Vitae

2011-05-15T21:36:00.000-07:00

For my Final in Narrative Image, I decided to create a triptych on the themes of Life, Death, and Rebirth. For each panel, I wrote a piece of prose. This is all LOADED with symbolism, and I don't even want to begin to deliver a dissertation on it here. I figure these sorts of images are more enjoyable for people when they can come to their own conclusions about the symbolism and narrative, anyhow :)
Enjoy!

Canthus Vitae

watercolor paintings mounted on foamcore

Valerie Herron 2011

Panel One: Life

watercolor on Arches

Valerie Herron 2011

The magic of the incomprehensible microbe

Blood and teeth and fur and scales

Feathers venom bones and filth

We all come into this world swinging

Swaddled in the sling of physics

we dance in that all-night party of the pulse

and traverse the sinewy synoptic pathways

by cognitive torchlight

the spark that ignites the shaman in the ape

we create things bigger than ourselves

we are the ephemeral creating permanence.

Panel Two: Death

watercolor on Arches

Valerie Herron 2011

the severing Shears of Atropos,

Shears of Skuld.

What will become of me?

Will I glide into the fold of oblivion

Or will I rocket

From zero to infinity?

Is there gestalt if my parts dissolve?

And can there be purpose

For those so soluble?

You, Great Annihilator:

The Hands Behind the cogs of the Universe

Above me and below me

Inside me and Around me,

From the terrestrial womb we emerge

And into the Earth we all return.

Panel Three: Rebirth

watercolor on Arches

Valerie Herron 2011

We scatter and collide!

We are the earth

We are the sky.

You hear this, entropy?

We can only break

Into so many pieces

to be absorbed

expressed in chlorophyll and granite!

to nourish the larval souls

that only our imaginations will know.

Perhaps.

but we are not unknown to them,

we create things bigger than ourselves

we are the ephemeral creating permanence.

Circumradiant Dawn

2011-04-11T18:26:00.000-07:00

a biting frost which clings a inky slick melts away, falling slowly to what would be peril if not for mutation, but a rose never looks down, time slows not for her: she blooms, she grows, she wilts, and then she is dead, so she sighs a hoary steamy spice and shakes a frantic iridescence, vines twist and thorns sink in and she begins to climb, strangling the thistle, crushing weed, she climbs, undulating petals flow and stretch toward that fever, Sol, ardent growth will never stop 'til she is white light blinded one with everything.
My art, my heart, my everything.
Ego denique opportunus muse.
Meus pectus pectoris est de Sol.

Circumradiant Dawn

Watercolor on Arches

Valerie Herron 2011

Cernunnos

2011-03-30T03:55:00.000-07:00

Lord of the Beasts!

Cernunnos

Watercolor on Arches

Valerie Herron 2011

Dirty Diana

2011-02-08T21:22:00.000-08:00

Here's a modern day Artemis

watercolor on arches

Valerie Herron 2011

Domos Aidaou

2011-02-06T21:22:00.000-08:00

*ATTENTION: While I'm on the subject of writing, please go check out this new novel on Kindle - Eidolon's Wager. Written by the brilliant Dr. Michael Friedrichs. You will not be sorry :)*

I'm currently in a class titled Narrative Image. As you probably gathered from the name, it is a creative writing/illustrating for narratives class.

For me, writing is like dancing. I'm no good at it, but it's fun for me regardless. My first project was to create a piece of flash fiction and illustrate for it. I decided to revise an earlier narrative + illustration that I created. Previously called Black Planet, I decided to go with something even more pretentious this time around: Domos Aidaou. The main difference is that I added a narrator and turned it into an actual narrative as opposed to the description of a scene with more words than necessary. I decided to name the narrator after a favorite musician of mine who recently passed away.

This time around with the illustrations, I decided to create an Audubon-esque illustration of some mutated critters, as the narrator was an old biologist. I think these turned out pretty sweet.

Species of the Domos Aidaou

watercolor on hot-press

Valerie Herron 2011

Alright, if you are interested, here is a bit 'o flash fiction, written by me:

Domos Aidaou

It has been at least a month since I last spoke with another person, and I fear that these might be the last words ever written. It is my hope that this record may be found after my death by some sort of cosmic travelers. In this, my last journal entry, I will tell the story of the end of humanity.

Throughout the whole of our existence, humanity has been obsessed with the end of the world. Despite this careful study of eschatology, from every possible contingency, we brought about our own demise. We were thwarted by our own sentience: our attempt to achieve god-hood with mastery over the microbe, the atom, the elements and nature. From every corner of the globe it was the same: taring away at each other like rats, fighting over life sustaining resources, all hoarded by the upper rungs of society. The lower classes were always lost in the fray. A dark alchemy of industrial contamination, global-scale murder, and the devouring of resources could not be tempered by the last weak efforts of the few toward preservation. Epidemics emerged, the numbers of the dead metastasized like the sicknesses in their bodies. Eco-systems died out and eliminated all sources of food. Desperate wars over the last farmlands and water-sources killed off the majority. In the end, the upper echelons of society were able to buy themselves the luxury of dying last.

I am writing this from an old cabin I had the fortune to discover deep in the woods. I found it when I fled from the city. It is an oddly comforting place. I know that it is just as saturated with radiation as everything else, but the blanket of vegetation that covers it provides a sort of imagined barrier. I feel removed from that contaminated wilderness. The biologist in me yearns to spend my final days wandering this strange world, but I can not find the strength to stand.

A ghostly terrain roles out from the mists, like a real Domos Aidaou. For now the only stirring in this world is the movement of contaminated flora and fauna. The trees hum with a poisonous bioluminescence. Scurrying forth from many generations of mutation, the cacophony of a thousand gnarled creatures can be heard in the darkness. The occasional darting retina can be spied by lurking predators in between glowing branches and leaves. The steaming and hissing of a once toxic steam now gently licks the faces of the horrid creatures and lurching tendrils as they reach into the water for nourishment.

Looking at the tumors in my hands that have formed within days, I can not imagine any other humans could have survived this. I suppose the pendulum always swings. For centuries we were all so worried about the end, we forgot that the planet does not need humans to endure. Though ravished through the ages by predatory giants – from the dinosaurs to humanity – Nature will not be victimized. She will always prevail. I pray that someday the ancient remains of this crumbling domicile will be discovered and this journal within it, lest humanity forever be forgotten with the death of human consciousness.

Dr. Peter Christopherson

7/17/2041

All Hail the Mighty Tome

2010-12-21T22:13:00.000-08:00

I was super into working in my various sketchbooks this semester. Here are some pearls that have happened over the semester from my personal illuminated manuscripts.

Painting Final

2010-12-21T18:17:00.000-08:00

My final project in my Oil Painting class was to create a master copy, and a response to that copy. As an illustrator, I feel that my illustrations rely on my painting, and as an illustrator of largely mythological themes, I feel largely influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites.

I chose to create a master copy of Gather Ye Rosebuds while Ye May by John William Waterhouse. It's not my favorite Waterhouse painting, but I felt that it was simple enough to provide for a good study, and I am really in love with the composition and color. Here is a study I did before beginning the oil painting:

Here are a few images of the final painting:

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May

oil on canvas 2010

I decided to create a response in the manor of Waterhouse. This is because I have been really influenced by his style of painting: Strong women, mythological subject matter, all painted in a naturalistic yet almost impressionistic fashion.

I also wanted to address the subject matter of this specific painting. While Waterhouse is known for the strong women and mythological femme-fatales in his paintings, Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May was inspired by this poem :

TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME.
by Robert Herrick

GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying :
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer ;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may go marry :
For having lost but once your prime
You may for ever tarry.

As a feminist, naturally this makes me cringe. I wanted my response to be similar in composition but way more empowering. I chose my dear friend Lissy to model for me. She is a modern Priestess of Isis. Here was a study I painted for this piece:

I decided to add a more esoteric element to the piece (to imply that the subject knows something you don't) I added hieroglyphs to the background. Here are a few images of the final piece:

The Priestess

oil on canvas

2010

Henry Molaison

2010-12-21T17:32:00.000-08:00

One of my assignments for Illustration Studio was to create a half-page, magazine illustration for an article about Henry Molaison. I did some research on Henry Molaison, and the images that stuck with me were the descriptions of him in his courtyard, watching trains with his bunny and his dog. Here was my first ideation comp:

I then painted the final draft, scanned it, and switched the orientation in Photoshop so it would read better. Here is the result:

The Transformation of an Illustration

2010-12-21T17:19:00.000-08:00

For my Illustration Studio final, I was assigned to create an anti-smoking PSA. This was an interesting and weird assignment for me, a smoker.

I decided to build the PSA around the amount of money the government receives annually from cigarette sales. With US government symbolism and my own style in mind, I initially planned for the PSA to be rife with Masonic symbolism and to look very sinister. Here are a few of my ideations from that point:

I thought that cigarettey pillars with cancerous mouths would make a nice touch to the imagery

I brought these ideas to my Professor, and he said that they were too esoteric. I reworked my ideas into something more broad (I HATE doing that) and came up with this basic composition:

I wanted a insignia to be the main image. I reworked this composition (it felt too boxy), scanned the ink drawing I made of the Eagle seal, added some texture, designed the text, then put it all together and colored it in Photoshop. He is the final result:

Still Life Oil Painting

2010-12-21T00:03:00.000-08:00

Oil on canvas
Fall 2010

Typeface

2010-12-20T23:42:00.000-08:00

Here is a typeface I designed for my Illustration Studio class

Update Time!

2010-12-20T11:08:00.000-08:00

Hello All! Happy Yule :)

Finally getting around to updating here. It's been a pretty full semester, and I'm excited to show you what I've come up with.

I finally moved into a place of my own where I can actually be stationary for the next few years! This is a huge relief, and should also be conducive for keeping current with this blog (I now have a scanner at my disposal.) Alright, I shall commence with the updates. I'll start with a better scan of my Scelerophobia illustration. Enjoy :)

Scelerophobia

2010-09-12T16:33:00.000-07:00

My first big illustration assignment was to illustrate a phobia. I chose Scelerophobia. We started the project out with ideations. I knew that I was going to create something of an image montage, so I churned out a bunch of compositions for the elements of my main piece out in my sketchbook:

I then created the sketch for the actual composition:

Then the final piece, composed with goauche and color pencils. I tried to figure out how to work the contrast in this image to make the female the obvious focal point. I decided to make the images that represent the phobia as a transparent, make-believe membrane that was encroaching on her reality. This worked out pretty nicely as far as balancing out the contrast. And I'm happy to report that I finally found a place for Albert Fish in my artwork. Even the Zodiac!

Scelerophobia

gouache and color pencils

Valerie Herron 2010

Cimaruta, the original Lucky Charms

2010-06-05T20:35:00.000-07:00

Cimaruta

micron in sketchbook

June 2010

YES, that entendre was doublé ! Anyway, Cimarutas, or Cima di Ruta (sprig of rue) are traditional Italian folk-charms which possibly originate all the way back to the Etruscans. They are pendants, usually silver, and the folk tradition is to place them where one would want protection (baby’s cradle, hung in a doorway, worn as a necklace etc.) They are always a sprig of rue with charms/symbols hung from the branches. The symbols are often a mixture of Pagan and Catholic motifs.

I just discovered these things and thought they were neat, so I drew one.

Chee-ma-roo-ta, doesn’t it sounds like child’s programming?

Emotional Masochism

2010-05-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

Just recently I was revisiting my old obsession with serial killers. For years I haven't had the stomach to think about this sort of thing. I watched a documentary about Albert Fish the other day, and it disturbed me so greatly that I decided I wanted to make an art piece about it. I want to revisit the experiments I've done in the past with mixed-media and merge those aesthetics with graphic art skills I have garnered over the last year.

I'll keep you all posted as this horrible thing unfolds :)

Illustration Painting II Final

2010-05-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

My painting final serves two functions. As I wrote up in my final proposal, I wanted to create a fantasy illustration, something versatile that could be used for calendars, gaming books, or even books on witchcraft (like a John William Waterhouse painting.) These are the markets I want to get into as an illustrator. The primary reason I created this painting was as a devotional painting to Brighid, as I have certainly been blessed with inspiration, productivity, and skill this first year at art school.

Brighid, goauche

Illustration Painting II Spring 2010

For reference I set up a photoshoot with my friend Coleen. Have I mentioned yet that my friends are good sports? She was willing to let me dress her up and stand by a fire-pot in her backyard for an hour while I took pictures of her in the cold.

p.s. Coleen doesn't really have horns.

I was able to superimpose this image over a woodsy background, the lighting was challenging but I pulled it off.

I was stoked that I pulled off the fire-pot as well.

Master's Study

2010-05-26T15:47:00.000-07:00

We all did one Master's Study in my Illustration Painting class, in other words, choosing a painting by an artist we admire and recreating it with goauche. I chose Morganna Le Fay by Brian Froud. Brian Froud is definitely an artist who I want to emanate in my paintings.

Master's Study, goauche

Illustration Painting II Spring 2010

I think I did a really good job rendering the painting while throwing in my own style (even though I didn't get to finish)

This bird looks so mad!

Drawing II Final Project

2010-05-26T15:18:00.000-07:00

The Three Allegories of Beauty, graphite and charcoal

Drawing II Spring 2010

For the our final in Drawing II, each student had to create some giant project that related to the human figure. Their were 3 general themes to choose from: the human body as a machine, the human body relating to a grander concept, or using parts of the body to create the drawing final. For my project I created “The Three Allegories of Beauty.”

For reference, I took photos of my friends Courtney and Erin, and I modeled for the 3rd allegory. I sketched out the infrastructure of each piece with graphite. I enhanced the shadows of the compositions with charcoal. The modeling in the drawings consists of blended graphite and charcoal, as well as stippling and crosshatching to create different texture throughout the composition. These were all drawn on 3 sheets of white 22x30 drawing paper.

There are a number of artists, traditional and contemporary, that have influenced the artistic decisions I made with this project. Throughout history, in the middle-ages especially, people used allegories as a solution to visually represent abstract concepts. I decided to use allegories because they are traditionally female figures, and this works perfectly as the project is about female body-issues. Another artist that inspired me during this project (and in general) is Caravaggio. I am inspired by Caravaggio’s intense use of subject matter, but also his use of tenebrism. The last artist that inspires me (in general as well as in context of this project) is Kiki Smith. Kiki Smith is a sculptor whose work is all about the human figure. She works in themes of women’s issues and makes several references to mythology and folklore to further contextualize her sculptures.

Because this piece had so many medieval elements, I wanted to make it a traditional triptych. Because I felt like these figures were on display, almost like a freak-show, I gave them a more Victorian appearance and the typography followed suit.

Maid, the melancholy Woman-Child. This allegory is my favorite aesthetically as well as conceptually, as it disturbs me the most. Courtney was so perfect for this.

Matrona, the proverbial Xanax Soccer-Mom. It was hard to make Erin looked fucked up at all, as she is so beautiful.

Matriarch, the discarded Hag. Our biology tells us that women are no longer needed when they are no longer fertile.

I actually modeled for this one. I drew a bunch of lines on my face, and I looked like Yoda when I was done. Yoda in a severe corset.

The Journeys Project

2010-05-25T23:56:00.000-07:00

This was my favorite assignment in Illustration Word and Image. We were to make up an explorer and illustrate/document their journey. We had to depict where they went, who they met, what they found etc. and create an illustrated book around this story.
I decided to make a Celtic children's story: The Journey of Sionann Donnelly. This decision was inspired by a book I recently read, The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog by Patricia Monaghan.

I made this one another accordion book. I made the cover out of illustration board and book cloth. The image on the cover (drawn with colored pencils) was an homage to one of my favorite motifs from history, The Three Hares. I snuck them in throughout the book.

cover page

Beginning of the story, intro to the character. First illustration shows her home-base (bedroom.)

page 2 and 3 are a little map of the journey.....

SURPRISE! Fold out, detailing the journey

Northern Irish cemetery (sorry about the blurriness)

Biddy Early's cottage

Newgrange

At the Climax, Sionann is confronted by the goddess Ériu, who chews her out for stealing and tells her to go home.

Sionann flies home, and when she unpacks her things, she finds a book that tells the tale of her journey.

THE END

There's a little hidden raven in every image, as Ériu's raven spies on Sionann throughout the story.

Stylized Portrait

2010-05-25T23:13:00.000-07:00

For this assignment, we were to chose an artist that we liked that worked a lot with the figure. We were then supposed to create a self portrait in the style of this artist. Immediately I thought "Great, I'll do Giger." This turned out to be hilarious. My classmates all chose more conventional artists, demonstrating their amazing skills at rendering life-like portraits. I was the only one, it seems, that decided to portray themselves through the aesthetics of some creepy surrealist.

Trying to complete this piece in a timely fashion with charcoal was a giant pain in the ass. I tried my best to mimic the airbrush texture with charcoal and conte. I wish I had more time to execute this piece, as there is so much more detail that I would have liked to put in it, as well as more time to render the details of the textures. I salute you, Hans Rudolf Giger. You are a freakin' genius.

Gigeresque Self-Portrait, charchoal and conte crayons

Drawing II Spring 2010

Portrait of a Classmate

2010-05-25T22:59:00.000-07:00

For this assignment we had to bring in a piece of cardboard to class and paint a portrait of one of our classmates. We had to use cardboard as it forces you to paint really thick and it also starts you off with a mid-tone, forcing you to create a full value scale in the painting. I was lucky enough to paint my friend, Danni, who is lovely.

Here's a photo of Danni:

Portrait of Danni, goauche on cardboard

Illustration Painting II Spring 2010

Personal Map

2010-05-25T22:32:00.000-07:00

ARGH! I can't get a good image of this assignment to save my life for some reason. Anyway, for Illustration Word and Image we were given the assignment to create a personal map/self portrait. I will do my best to describe this project, as all the images I have suck. (In addition to photoshop, I need access to a good camera.)

I drew a map of the pacific northwest, where I have always lived. I wanted to the map to have a Tolkeinesque feel, but with my own cartoony line quality so it didn't appear as if it wanted to be taken too seriously. In acknowledgment to my habit of romanticising everything just to deal with mundane reality, I renamed various important locations to sound like something from a D&D campaign. They all have their own little map symbols too.

Legend: Locations North to South
- The City of Subdued Excitement (Bellingham, WA)
- The Emerald Vortex (Seattle, WA)
- The Hillfort of Newakum (house I grew up in, Chehalis,WA)
- Shrine to the Gaullic Soldier (plaque dedicated to my Father, Veteran Memorial Museum, Chehalis,WA)
- Port City of the Elves (Portland, OR)
- Cairn of the Two Brothers (burial site of my brother Jody and my brother Jesse, Santa Rosa, CA)
- The Golden City of Saint Francis (San Fransisco, CA)

I also included a brief biography, so I could further relate myself to the map:

Valerie Herron was born and raised in the Newakum Hillfort overlooking the Land of Sinking Sands. She spent many years swirling around in the Emerald Vortex until it transported her to the Port City of the Elves. She currently lives in the Witches' Castle and studies at the Persephone-Nyx Collegeum of Artisans where she is a neophyte scribe and painter. She plans to one day journey to the Golden City of Saint Francis to further matriculate and eventually explode in a supernova of Illustrative glory.

I drew a simple but accurate portrait of myself. I was trying to think of how I could make it a little more iconic, so I drew a heron circling around my head. I actually really like this image, and I'm toying with the idea of using it on my business cards.

Personal Map, ink on drawing paper

Illustration Studio I 2010

(yep, Journeys is misspelled. You know what rocks? Photoshop.)

Perspective Still Life

2010-05-25T21:45:00.000-07:00

The assignment was to create a composition that displayed a still life that contained some element of figure within it, and showing some level of atmospheric perspective.

Last Spring, I found a statue of Pan in the dumpster outside the art department at Clark College. Made out of plaster, he was painted to look like bronze and his head had apparently busted off. I instantly fell in love with this statue, and I've displayed him in my room ever since.

I made this drawing as a tribute to my statue. I drew him from a very low angle as an art challenge. I wanted him to be high in the composition, as to suggest his importance, but I wanted to see if I could successfully convey that he was merely a small object drawn from close up. I drew all this on craft paper, which gave me a mid-tone to start with. I rendered this with white and black Conté crayons.

The Headless Pan, Conté crayons on craft paper

Drawing II Spring 2010