Lost soldier

A soldier lost in a tropical forest

Green woodpeckers

The (european) green woodpecker (Picus viridis) is a beautiful, middle size bird of our countries. It's quite common to ear his funny call, a kind of sonorous mocking laughter, and you can spot him while he moves with his undulating flight, but he tends to be rather shy, so it's not easy to watch him for a long time.
But this summer I was lucky enough to see a couple of them breeding in a field near a wood, and the observation was rather long and accurate. They are mostly green and mimetic, but they have a bright red crown - as if they were a bit vain. They walked calmly and watchful on the grass, looking for food.
When you see wild animals busy in their activities, it's easy to understand why  many traditional legends regard them as "small persons", little human creatures with a secret life. So I decided to remember my lucky encounter with a painting, "the secret life of green woodpeckers".

Done mostly in watercolor, with some gouache and colored pencils (sorry for the bad photo). Unfortunately I was not consistent in the color of the characters.

Krivopeta

A weird creature today.
A krivopeta (or krivapeta) is a mythological figure coming from the border between Italy and Slovenia. As many other figures from myth, her description varies greatly, from a benevolent friend of people (sometimes she even marries a man) to a evil-minded witch. One thing however is distinctive of a krivopeta: her feet point backward.
Drawing such a strange woman is a challenge: the anatomy clearly doesn't work, and she look unbalanced... although after drawing a few, she now looks quite natural to me...  :)
Another question arises: is she an ugly witch, or a beautiful girl cursed with a deformity?

One-man-band/8

One more attempt with color.

One-man-band/6

This watercolor was done some time ago, but was left in my drawer because I thought it was unbalanced. Basically I still think it is, but I have no clear idea how to fix it...

More gulls

As I have already said, it's easy to take pictures of gulls in my town, so I'm afraid you will see a lot of drawings/paintings of gulls in the future, I'm experimenting a bit on different styles and techniques.

A couple of drawings. The first is done with a more tonal approach, suggesting a kind of "moist atmosphere"


in the second I reverted to my usual line style, which seems more lively to me


I also did a watercolor study (with very limited gouache and pencil touches). Due to lack of planning, I completely messed up the backgroud.


I'm still hesitant between a true soft watercolor effect, and a more precise description, which is what I actually got despite my initial intent.
Painting watercolor twice in a year is not the right way to improve...

Incubo - Nightmare

A new character from Dino Coltro's book Gnomi, anguane e basilischi.

Nowadays, an incubo (nightmare) is a dream full of anguish and fear, but the meaning has changed during the centuries. The italian word, incubo, comes from latin incubare, which means "to sit, to lie on top of someone or something"; a incubo was originally a kind of dwarfish evil creature sitting on the breast of sleepers, making breathing difficult. In english too, the same "shift" has occurred. According to the online etymology dictionary, a nightmare was "an evil female spirit afflicting sleepers with a feeling of suffocation".

Anyway, the original meaning of incubo has been retained in popular culture, and the little creature is the subject of a couple of drawings:

 and a watercolor (alas, the scanner has butchered a bit the colors):

Incidentally, you may want to look at a painting by Johann Heinrich Füssli on the same subject.

One-man-band/4

A new chapter for the "music guy" (yes, he's always the same guy):


Ink is such a wonderful medium, but I still have to learn to think in two "colors":

One-man-band/3

A watercolor version of the drawing shown here. It's clearly overworked, and lacks a strong focus. I should paint watercolors more often...



and two more drawings on this subject:

One-man-band/2

I've played a little with the idea that these guys are completely "covered" by instruments:


I also like the idea that they share their lives with a (small?) dog:


here is a study made in watercolor. I've left my brushes in their box for too long, and it shows...