30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #4 - A Dragon

"O to be a dragon - a symbol of the power of Heaven."
      - Marianne Moore

Is it only 4 days into the 30? Why does it feel like so much longer?

I was challenged today to paint a Dragon as my contribution. Yikes. Its crazy, my martial arts school is named Red Dragon (unbeknownst to many, that name was NOT my choice) and I am surrounded by Dragons of all kinds - painted, drawn, screen printed, carved, embroidered, knit - on pretty much a daily basis. I own an absolutely ridiculous amount of t-shirts with Dragons on them.

So why, when given the challenge, was I totally freaked out?

Well, duh, Dragons are HARD!

I have a history of freaking out when given assignments to draw or paint things that are, in my mind, difficult. I put off attempting trees for a pretty long time. It was silly of course, as trees are now one of my favorite things to paint.

So I sat down this afternoon to attempt my dragon. I started with my usual Google search for a reference photo. Uhhhh, crap. Did I mention that Dragons are HARD?!?! Every Dragon I saw had so much detail, so many complex parts.

My drawing skills are, frankly, terrible. Which is why I like brush painting and fast, loose watercolor. As little detail as possible, thank you!

Then it hit me - maybe a Dragon brush painting? A quick change in the Google search brought up some vastly different Dragons. Not easy by any means, but more within my limited skill set.

So, the Dragon below is an amalgamation of the 3-4 different Dragon brush paintings I liked. The body from one, a head with features from two, and arms/claws from, well, God only knows how I came up with those. I used a whole piece of paper practicing various arms, and really did NOT even want to include them. But what is it they say - "God hates a coward?" So I caved and included them. Ugh.

So having "slain" the Dragon challenge, will Dragons become a favorite creation? As of right now, I am thinking no. While my final creation can be viewed as very simple - there is not a lot of detail, and it is a very, uhhh, sparse, I guess, image, I can assure you, the PROCESS was NOT simple.

But that's why this whole 30 In 30 is called a Challenge, particularly for an amateur like me. And that's what makes it a great experience that I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in!

The Dragon