Finished this a few weeks ago. Dr. Martin’s Hydra watercolors on illustration board.

Finished this a few weeks ago. Dr. Martin’s Hydra watercolors on illustration board.
I was going through some old computer files and found this colored pencil illustration of the goddess White Tara. I made her for someone during a spiritual swap exchange years ago.
There is something I find very satisfying about drawing on dark paper.
This illustration is the big one I’ve been working on all year. I’m excited it’s done! It’s the accompanying piece to the poem Humpty Dumpty’s Reign which I posted at the end of last year, and I added an extra stanza to it this summer. I’m posting it again below.
Humpty Dumpty’s Reign
Humpty Dumpty crowned himself king
He said “It really don’t mean a thing!
Cuz you’ve been serfs for years
So forget all your fears
And keep pretending freedom will ring.”
Humpty Dumpty wanted a wall,
And to get it, he had the actual gall
To shout “Let’s get the ball rollin’!”
And try to use capital stolen
From people who have no will left to stall
Humpty Dumpty let humans be caged.
Children wailing, parents enraged.
He thought them unequal at best,
More like an animal or pest.
Using them to keep his supporters assuaged.
Humpty Dumpty spewed out his lies,
Never hearing the people’s painful cries
“It’s as if they’re already dead,
So I’ll ignore the sounds in my head,
And continue to crush them like flies.”
Humpty Dumpty’s fall from grace
Will leave a nation with a big empty space
You can bet the men of power have met
To choose and pull out a new puppet
Thus continuing the system of control apace.
Copyright 2019 on both poem and picture, Kat Micari
I finished up this illustration for my love poetry collection this week. I only have one more to go and I will be ready to scan everything in and compile the book. Very exciting for me!
Here is the redone illustration created for postcard size. I am granting this a CC-BY licensing, so if you want to print out your own postcards or flyers or use this for what you will, have at it.
My postcards will be ordered tonight for my Write-to-a-politician gathering. My friend who is an artist AND a scientist has created a science-friendly postcard that I will be printing as well, and I hope to get a good turnout when I schedule this event (probably early March by the time things ship). And my suggestion of a workshop at our local domestic abuse shelter got positive feedback and has been forward to the pertinent person in the organization, so my efforts for getting involved are progressing.
My new job got pushed back a week due to complications in the life of the shop owner. I am getting a little nervous but glad to have an extra week at home with the baby and take advantage of the extra time to get some smaller projects done. Life is what it is, right?
This charcoal and pastel piece just boiled out of me. I started it last night and finished it this morning. It is a direct reaction to learning about the school attack in Peshawar, but it is one that has been brewing inside me since the Newtown attack two years ago. Maybe even earlier. I had other projects I was supposed to be working on (a commission, three small practice gouache paintings, a personal project for practice in my custom work, holiday prep, writing), but I had to lay that all aside or I felt like I was going to choke.
Here is the finished work for The Cephalopod Maid. I used watercolors, watercolor pencils, and a little white ink on her eyes.
Image copyright 2014, Kat Micari.
I could have spent a lot more time adding several more detailed layers to the tentacles, but I decided not to. Once the image was shrunk down for the cover and had a filter placed over it, I would have lost all the detail work anyway.
I’m still finalizing the story descriptions, so I won’t actually be uploading it until later today. But links will be coming soon!
This was done with the same tools and style as Spring Hope. I had considered doing another two and creating a series, but I never was struck with inspiration for a subject matter.