I recently finished a nice project for University of Notre Dame magazine - four separate illustrations accompanying narrative articles.
I loved all the pieces, but I wanted to share this one and how it evolved. One of the articles was about a man who worked in hospice. He came to the conclusion that hospice work meant seeing the essence of another person and allowing the dying person to share in his essence. I had sent a sketch of an older woman emanating colors and pattern entwining into a man. I also sent some finished examples of past work, and one of those was a piece I did a couple weeks ago after Old Man Guinnias pasted away in the night. The art director found that piece so spiritual and wondered if it could be used as a starting point for this article.
At first I had an old woman on a cloud, but then realized the woman was still earthbound, though fading. But her faithful companion was floating, waiting to give her a special apple from the trees of the sky, where she'd return to her special chair.
Thank you, Old man, one more gift from you.
