Processes processes processes

So I have gotten my Fiction Project Book and now the rush is on to finish my work. This is an experimental piece and I was going to use ink. The problem I have encountered is the ink bleeds through the page and makes it look ugly. So I thought about sticking a blank page onto the others but it makes the pages fold funny on the gutter. So then I switched over to the idea of collage, using only colored pages from the magazine. I have now decided that since the project is about words news papers, magazines and other documents harbouring the written word. So I have drawn some of the pictures and written the first story. I have also drawn in most of the illustrations for the next 2 stories. So when I return home I will have to create. This is an exploration of media and my own mind. Who knows what it will look like!

Illustration Friday - Journey

How often have you wished you had the money for a trip overseas?
Journey in my mind conjured up images of elephants, trains, and other forms of travel. But I ended up illustrating this busker, who could be earning money to go on a journey or is on a self exploration journey to find himself and possibly become famous. If you can dream it, it can happen. How often do you walk past someone and think he/she is a hobo, homeless person or someone who is just trying to scrape a few pennies together. Maybe what you think will take you on a journey to find out more about your own world perception.
This illustration is done with a brush tip pen and coloured ink. I think we can see a stylistic theme now.

Eek! It's arrived! Time to get cracking!

I've been waiting for about a week now for a package from the States.
It's here and it's intimidating~!
It's a project where you need to weave text (of your own making) into a delicious book for people to read when in the library at the Art House Co op. Now, to work like a banshee for the next 2 weeks so I can get it done beautifully and send it back. And somewhere find a scanner to scan all my artwork (since my printer says NO! after the last big earthquake 7.1.)

Here's what the book looks like!

Empty lined pages, at lease 38 of them.

My ideas on paper which will be transfered to the book.

All bottled UP - Illustration Friday 15

Legend has it that there was a box full of all the bad in the world, in my case it was a tempting bottle full of the bad in the world. Kinda reflects my mood about a lot of things at the moment, what with so much happening in the world, earthquakes, sorrow, mine explosions, nuclear power plants melting down, and general pollution. Not to mention the wars over oil and ideology, gunfire, riots, arson and political unrest in Africa.


So here's my take on the situation. No matter how many depressing things there are out there we also need to look for hope.
Let me know what you think about my drawing (constructive criticism of course) and I will really appreciate it.
Please note these images are copyrighted (C) Niki Maritz 2011.

So here is Pandora's Box (Bottle):
This image is done using Quink Ink, Eco Ink on Paper

Have a boring, uneventful day, and walk away smiling.

Illustration Friday

Hi Guys,

I am setting off on the illustration road again, going to do it this time better than before. I found this website which gave me some motivation. So here is this weeks illustration for Illustration Friday, the theme was TOY. Reproduction of this image or use of this image without the creator's consent (ie me) is strictly forbidden.

Three weeks on abouts.

Three weeks on from the great quake in NZ and it looks like we are complaining about nothing when it comes to news and actualities. Japan has suffered a dreadful tsunami which has killed many and left thousands upon thousands missing from the village. Not to mention the nuclear fall out that is about to become a big issue due to the water cooling systems not currently in use.

So in relation to art and drawing. I can tell you that an earthquake like the Christchurch one has created a lot of fall out. On a metaphorical level, the fall out is obvious when you used to go places and share ideas freely and now all those places are collapsed or demolished promptly by a shake or by people working towards other's safety. Each building had it's own story and this is something we also do when we are drawing things. Each item that has been selected to litter our rooms, to sit on little shelves and collect dusk, has a story that owns the owner and has earned them that place. So when we select a range of items for a still life drawing, we are selecting a bookshelf of stories that tell people about who you are as a person, what you like to do, and how you compose it is another story.

Let's suppose then that all these knick-knacks just happened to be thrown against the wall and are shattered in a violent 6.3 Earthquake at a depth of 5 km right under your city.

It doesn't matter.

Who cares?

It's just stuff.

But when the stuff and the buildings that are much loved crumble in front of you, there is a sense of loss, a sense of displacement, possibly disbelief and years of collecting and gathering and stories get destroyed. My question to you is: Do you need all this stuff to maintain these stories? After all, most of us got away with our lives. Life drawing of friends and family hold the most stories, and at the end of the day, if these drawings get washed away or lost in a pile of rubble, they are only pieces of paper.

Come together after events like this and get back to normal as much as possible. It's about the art, but it is far more important to have the friends and community to share stories and experiences than to have the objects.

Hit and Miss

Hi all,

A week ago, a devastating earthquake happened here in my hometown. Some were badly affected, others walked away with not even a scratch. This has been a blow to the city and its people. Some of whom are doing this all over for the second time from when the first earthquake happened. What this teaches us when we are doing art is to just keep going, even when the picture is not great, when you are feeling a lack of confidence. It's persistance, resilience and the ability to dust yourself off and hop back onto the horse.