Arthur Rackham was one of those artists that was a huge influence on me far before I realized that he was a huge influence on me. My childhood, as for many others, was filled with his images of elves, goblins, dragons and mermaids, all the good things necessary for a right good adventure. In fact, his artwork for these tales always seemed to me to be the authoritative voice for all of these things, as if the artwork itself was a deep part of the folklore and fairy tale passed down through the ages. He was the camera that followed Alice down the rabbit hole and watched as Seigfried slew the dragon Fafner.
His use of mixing charcoal and watercolours was a revelation to me when hearing of it for the first time. Such a unique combination that worked so well for what he was representing.
I had debated whether or not to post this watercolor, as I felt uneasy about it, not quite hitting what I had hoped to achieve. But, the more I looked at it, the more I thought maybe I'd show it. After all, I have never been the best barometer of my own work...
I do see now what I could have done differently, so all is not lost as far as learning from it. Now, if I could only borrow one of Rackham's elves to help me with the details...
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