Picturing my reading

I reread Crosstalk, by Connie Willis (one of my favorite sci-fi writers), this week, just for some comic relief in between literary and dystopian fare. For more of the story on Briddey (this woman in the picture), you can read my book review blog post at https://bookadept.com/2021/03/28/lucky-charms/. 

This is mostly Daler-Rowney inks, although I went back to my watercolors for her exceedingly fair Irish complexion and the emerald color of her dress. This is painted on Fluid 12x16-inch 140-lb. coldpress watercolor paper, so that I had room to expand the height if I needed to, which I did. The collage of HMS Pinafore at the bottom took up more space than I had anticipated, so I had to move her up on the page, but I scanned it in two pieces and merged them in Photoshop so I could put in the whole painting. It's a pain, because the colors never match perfectly at the edges, but you can usually tweak them so they are virtually undetectable.

I also taped around it so that there's a framing border, although I don't know if it will ever get framed and hung, since it's an illustration for a particular book. Perhaps I will see if I can find an address and send it to Connie Willis.

"Briddey Builds Her Perimeter"