TO SEE A WORLD IN A GRAIN OF SAND
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
~William Blake
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
~William Blake
47 comments:
Beautiful and fascinating illustration...and love the Blake poem. Great piece.
lovely seahorse and quote!
OOOOoh, that\s really pretty--I love the color. I used to raise and breed seahorses, but they weren't that color! Mary :-)
Another one of my weaknesses...seahorses. This is wonder-full!
Beautiful seahorse, he has a glowing! He appears to be encompassed by coral; is this sponging? This image would make exquisite enamelled jewellery. Where I live used to be famous for its seahorses ... not any more - blue :(
You have really captured the Romantics' notion of the Sublime that Blake expresses in his lines...the idea that nature can fill the "participant" with a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Blake). This fragile-looking seahorse, perhaps fossilized, very still and very perfect, holds within it all the mystery and power of the universe... The background looks like mica, and the glow around the seahorse gives it an otherworldy beauty. Oh...this was worth the wait:>
as a child i thought that seahorses were fairy tale animals, not really existing, but i thought that too of those big beaked tucans.. and then, one day at a zoo, there they where...
ever since to me they are proof that miracles exist.....
to paint it blue makes it even more miraculous... lovely, lovely! :)
this electric blue is beautiful! you're a fantastic artist..
I look forward every week to see what you post and I'm not disappointed.
You have captured this sea-horse in time and the quote
is eloquent.
absolutely beautiful.
The seahorse is gorgeous. I love the range of blues, especially the "electric" one.
I also love that Blake quote. Very thought-provoking.
Simply beautiful.
Perfect marriage of poetry an image. (I usually just steal a line to title mine.) This image gives a clue as o the delicacy of life and the endurance of time. Lovely.
Wow! This is truly beautiful. What was your technique?
That's great. How did you do it?
gorgeous
First-time visitor, and I have to say how impressed I am. Wonderful illustrations, this one and all that I've seen so far. Very, very nice work.
Lovely illlustration. This is such a gorgeous blog! So glad I found it. Thank you for your nice comments.
beautiful textures and the blue adds enchanting mystery.
Very beautiful! It all works soooo well together with the quote!
Feels real! Another great illustration, L.
Eternity in an hour!
Really love this. Great quote. Cheers!
My turn -- WOW! Lily.
Emily
Thank you Emily, I appreciate your comment!
ValGalArt
Thanks! I love Blake.
Taittems
Mary, I am LOVING your blogs... You must be so talented in so many areas. Thanks for commenting!
Ellen
Thank you! I love seahorses too!
Anonymous
Thank you Anonymous, I think that they are in trouble all over. Sad!
I tried to make this one a cross between live and fossil; and it did make me think of enameled piece too. My sister and I are learning to make jewelry for fun... I wish I could make a piece like this.
Carla
Thank You so much Carla, you really seemed to read my mind. I am always so touched by Blake's poems and this one touched on everything I was thinking about blue, the world is blue from space, the idea of heaven makes me think of the blue of the sky. If I think of wildflowers, I always remember the spiderwort that grew on the farm I was raised on. It is an impossible glowing shade of blue.
The whole world is a flower, you can encompass the universe in a grain of sand... eternity, to me is a high blue note.
(on another note, your wand is turning out beautiful!!)
vfm4
That was the sweetest comment! Yes, miracles do exist... sometimes right under our noses, sometimes where we've looked before and didn't see. Thank you for your childhood remembrance:)
ChrisBrus
That was very kind of you to say sir. I appreciate it and I am enjoying learning about your life.:) You have a very special grand-daughter.
Toni Kelly
Oh thank you Toni, I almost was afraid to post this one. You people give me such confidence with your understandings. I am so grateful to have found such beautiful people in the world.
Jaimie
Thank you Jaimie!!
Cate
Thank you, the quote is a favorite, it is so small and yet holds so many thoughts and feelings.
DeeJay
Thank you so very much for your comment!
Andrea
You said... This image gives a clue as to the delicacy of life and the endurance of time....
Thank you Andrea, I read the comments about this far down before I just lost it and started crying, this was hard for me to post, as the original work was started just a short time before a very, very sad and horrible time in my life. This was a healing for me to finish it up and post. There are so many layers of thought here, for it to be understood, really makes me misty-eyed. So thank you very much.
Amy Zaleski
Thank you Amy:) Magic!! :))) Actually I did the original drawing for another project a few years ago.
Tony
The usual, drawing, watercolor, and computer. I could probably recreate it with egg tempera, but it would take a LOT longer:))
Spoiled with computers I am:))) thanks for your comment!
Debbie
:) Thank you!
Jeope
Wow, thanks! I'm glad you liked it. I peeked in on your site yesterday before the servers went down, you really do a lot of nice, nice work.
Kay Susan
Thank you, I love what you are doing... I am jealous of your talent with fabrics!
Courtney
Thanks Courtney, I'm a texture freak!
Steph/Khya
Thank you, you make me glad I posted it! I am thrilled to find your site, I'm learning wire wrapping so Ive really enjoyed seeing what you are doing! So many beautiful pieces!
Cream
Thank you Cream! Not enough hours this time of year, eh? I need a clone or two:))) Thanks again my friend... :)
Holly
Thank you Holly!
Lily and Lucy White
Thank you Lily*blush* !!!
My thoughts of so many things are being changed by IF and the people involved, I am so grateful to you all.
that turned out very cool. it has a cave painting look to it, but with more detail. did you do this on a geode?
Nice touch, was this your entry for Illustration Friday - "blue"? Love the textures.
Anthony
It is just a painting. It's funny though that you should mention a geode, I was thinking when I was working on it that this should be as if you broke open a stone and found this inside like a fossil. I loved geodes as a kid, you never knew what you would find when they were opened. I can so see me painting on a cave wall! Except being lost in a cave seems like the worst nightmare in the world!
Gerald
It is for the IF "Blue", I guess I should have said. :( Thanks for the comment.:)
I just can say that I love everything of this. The colour, the drawing, the mineral aspect! Yep love it! A moving image...
WOW!! This is beautiful!! Great work.
What beautiful blues you have used and it really looks like the real thing!
oooo, very beautiful! The blue is gorgeous. Bravo!
What a lovely, powerful image and Blake quote. I'm so glad I found you in the sea of entries! I've been delighted to review your other works and stories as well - breathtaking!! I will seek out your work from now on!
yes this is a spunky work. they are one of my favs as well.
really nice treatment of the subject and the surround, or background.
and blake's immortal words, if only more people would stop to think what they are trying to say.
I will post some more drawings soon that are dealing with this exact thought, as half remembered in my head.
thanks for bringing his words back up out of the mists of time for me.
see you soon
love scott
oh and so deliciously blue.
and gold, so beautiful they are together.
thanks for the work. I love it
Merlinprincesse
:) :) Happy that you wrote this comment!!
Thank you...:) I love it when you visit!
Alina Chau
Alina, thank you so very much!!!!WOW,you really made me feel special:)
Queen Tut
Thank you, I really fussed with it a long time.
I really wanted it to be something extra.
Big A
Hey, thanks for visiting! I'm glad you liked it!
Bee'nme
I'm glad you found me too:) I know what you mean, every week I "find" someone I can really connect to, it is so exciting to find a whole group of "my people". I feel like I've come home at last.
Scott
What a beautiful, well written comment, this whole IF thing is like a torch we pass around every week.
Amazing! Thank you again for the words of encouragement!
Beautiful illustrations. really lovely. Thanks so much for leaving the nice comments on my blog. I'll definately be back to visit.
When I see your name on Illo. Fri. every week, I know it will be something wonderful before I even click the mouse! ( I also thought of a cloissone pendant, when I saw it.)
Donnachada
Thank you, I'm happy you visited me:)
Harrison
How interesting! I sure wish I knew what the solution was. We have lots of Cretaceous fossils here, but alas no trilobites. (I have wanted one since I was a kid, but they are way older than what is exposed here.)I wonder if it was just good old fashioned bluing? It was about that color. Sounds like you have had some fun experiences...oh, I WANT to ask:))) but I won't...*pout*
Thanks for the great comments!!!!
Raymond Larose
Thank you so much for your comment:)
Janet
Great compliment Janet, but the new word is tomorrow. My weekends are usually filled with family, so the pressure is pretty intense by sunday night:))
What a wonderful expression and brilliant art work!
I think this is the most accomplished piece I have seen so far. The use of colours, the textures and finally, the rendering of the subject. Truly astounding. Heheh. How long did it take you?
And of course you quoted William Blake! Have you seen the pieces he painted? There is a bewitching and haunting quality about some of them.
Woooaaa, missed this last week. The seahorse has an embryonic feel and the background is like Earth from space.
Fancy World
Thank you and thanks for stopping by:)
Chuang Shyue Chou
I'm not quite sure how long it took totally. Probably around eight hours. I worked on this in bits and stages so it is easy to lose track:)
I learn more about Blake all the time, (also in bits and stages:)))
Interesting and astounding man. I still like his poems best of all he did. He was able to put a world of thought into a few words.(rather like your do with your paintings)
Thanks for your much appreciated comment!
Modroom
You are so right!! Cool! Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment:)
your illustrations are just so lovely and professional!!! your small pc though, is the first pc i think of whenever i think of illustration friday- no lie! :)
I love the colours here your work is excellent I love to get some advice from some who is extremely better at colour than myself to aid me my own works I just found your blog but will continue 2 come back
Ellia
Thank you Ellia, what a wonderful thing to say!
St John Street
Hope to see you again! I love color too much I think. :)))
thank you for your comment!
very very nice mate ......
so are the sea horses taking over the world? i mean what's the meaning behind this painting?
Nabeel
Thanks, no I think it is more like we have taken over their world.
I was once scraping my daughters plate of uneaten food into the trash. I was thinking how awful it was to waste the food, when I heard a voice in my head say, "Nothing goes to waste, birds, bugs, worms and microbes all need to be fed." Suddenly I realized how much of a sense of "human" entitlement I had.
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