illustration friday: nourishment

Wow. I feel like I haven’t done this in forever.I almost didn’t do this one, as Penelope herself beat me to the whole birds/worms concept, but I pushed myself to do it anyway. Our interpretations are sufficiently unique.
I got the inspiration for this yesterday afternoon. We were driving around the beautiful wine country we are surrounded by (Liam was dropping off resumes for seasonal work at the wineries). As I was waiting in the car, a little black bird swooped down into the vineyard, then back up past the window with a wriggling, sqworming little worm in his mouth.
My first thought was “Ick!”
Then “Hmmm… Neat…”
And then came “A-ha! Nourishment!”
I worked away at this one, adding, subtracting and re-colouring until I was 99% happy with it (I don’t bother with that last, intangible 1% - otherwise I’d never get anything done).
I think the main reason why I use the computer for the majority of my work is the degree of control I can yield over it. I will occasionally drive myself crazy, but for the most part (if I really work hard), I end up more pleased with the end result because I can alter any little thing that bugs me right away.
I sometimes feel like I need to be drawing, and sketching in “reality” more, and I probably do. But the truth is that one medium is not so different from another.
I’ve been told my grandmother (who was also an artist) thought a good artist is not limited by their medium. A good artist (according to her) could pick up a wax crayon, a sable brush, or a burnt stick and be able to create.
While we all admittedly have our own comfort zones and niches, I think for the most part, I definitely agree.