I spent my commute the week before the trip drooling over Orson Byron Lowell’s illustrations so much, I almost forgot to look up more information on him that just his works. Pictures online do not do his works justice. It was hard to pull myself away from one illustration of his to admire the next. From afar or at a smaller size, the images look picture perfect, as if a pen had not even been involved. Upon a closer look I saw how much of his work consists of shading and hatching, the drawings almost void of a significant contour some of the times. What I used to consider scribbles Lowell used it fully in his works, understanding both the medium and his subjects. Some of his work was pretty ironic, for example “Birthdays” piece, depicting how much youths are in a rush to grow up while the elder women are running away from it. Most of his works depict the middle to upper class, dapper gentlemen and elegant ladies, the latter in all forms of stylish attire. One thing I certainly learned from his work is the importance of knowing the subject and that it’s not necessary to have perfect lines to execute perfection.

For the longest time I was confused, wondering who the heck this Burdick guy was and why couldn’t I find his original works anywhere?? Took me a moment to realize he’s made up -__-

I’m a huge scaredy cat so the majority of Van Allsberg works looked like the beginning of horror movie premises to me and it bugged me out. Until I came upon The Harp. It made me feel tranquil and at ease looking at what I would imagine are lush greens and a soft steady stream flowing center stage. Then I read the caption, and it didn’t scare me! It actually added more to my own little head canon about what could be happening in this corner of an “enchanted forest.”