Abigail Goh's profile

The Blue Devils of Blue River Avenue

Abigail Goh
•
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
Blue Devils of Blue River Avenue by Poe Ballantine
(read it here)

A great short story that is worth the read!

Watercolor and ink, 15 x 6"

The starkness of the text was so strong, I decided on a more whimsical illustration to complement it.
 
 
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bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
I used salt on watercolor to create a distressed effect.

The way the watercolors bled into each other reminded me of bruises.
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
My preliminary work:
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
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 A smaller piece to go with the same story

6 x 6" in ink
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
Every Night and every Morn,
Some to Misery are Born;
Every Morn and every Night,
Some are born to Sweet Delight;
Some are born to Sweet Delight,
Some are born to Endless Night.
- William Blake

I based the smaller illustration on the idea that the households that each child grew up in determined their fate.

bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
I illustrated the two main characters as little house-children playing hopscotch,
unaware of the big house falling from above that is about to crush them.
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
The blue-devil community, to me, seemed indifferent to the evil in their midst.
I chose to depict the surrounding houses with stony texture, dry and cold.
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
bird cage Fly Salt watercolor red SKY crows houses
thank you for reading!
:-)
The Blue Devils of Blue River Avenue
Published:
Abigail Goh's profile

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Abigail Goh's profile
New York, NY, USA

The Blue Devils of Blue River Avenue

Two Illustrations to accompany the text The Blue Devils of Blue River Avenue by Poe Ballantine.

Published:

Creative Fields

Attribution, Non-commercial, No DerivativesAttribution, Non-commercial, No DerivativesAttribution, Non-commercial, No Derivatives