subjects that fascinate me
The folkloric Green Man has fascinated me ever since my teens. It’s a subject I have explored very little in my art but one that I think about often. I created this piece depicting the Green Man watching from its place of power (the forest) in response to a challenge from my youngest child: “Draw something from your mind, Daddy.”
And so, I did.
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G. J. Sawyer et al’s book The Last Human: A Guide to Twenty-Two Species of Extinct Humans knocked me over when I first read it, but it was master sculptor Elisabeth Daynes’ reconstructions of Homo Sapiens, Neanderthals, and other early human species that truly captivated me.
I encourage you to visit Elisabeth Daynes’ website and explore the beautiful and lifelike reconstructions she created using fossil records and forensic technology. The ink drawings below are based on Daynes’ reconstructions.
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This next subject is the stunning stonemasonry found around the city of Halifax. In Stone Faces of Halifax, I set out to draw four stone faces from four separate buildings or structures in the South End of the city. Three of those faces (Foliate Head, Mary Queen of Scots, Lion) were the work of the talented Scottish born stonemason George Lang (1821-1881). The fourth face was designed by Canadian architect John Lyle (1872-1945).
The faces can be viewed on the following buildings:
- Halifax Provincial Court, Spring Garden Road (Foliate Head)
- Queen of Scots Inn, Queen Street (Mary Queen of Scots)
- Scotia Bank Head Office, Hollis Street (Foliate Face of Abundance)
- Welsford-Parker Monument, Barrington Street (Lion)
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In early December 2016, Tomtens invaded the house. Not literally; there were no small gnome-like creatures running amok in the days leading up to Christmas, but we did become fascinated with the little people. My youngest, who has always been a huge fan of Astrid Lindgren and Harald Wiberg’s book The Tomten, asked if we could leave out a bowl of porridge with butter for our house Tomten (a test to see if we did indeed have one in the house) and sure enough most of the porridge was eaten!
Our fascination grew quickly, and I started to sketch and draw the Tomten using Swedish artist Harald Wiberg’s archetypal Tomten as my inspiration. Below you will find additional Tomtens based on the works of other Swedish artists such as Jenny Nystrom, and Lennart Helje, as well Norwegian artist Kjell Midthun.
Robert Martel | Illustrator 