Friday, March 03, 2006

Illustration Friday: Insect

What a wonderfull occasion to show you this work.



And tell you the story behind it.

In the part of Holland we call Limburg there is a long tradition of street-theater. In the summertime we have a wonderfull festival where theater-acts from all over the world come to do a show. It was somewhere in the nineties. A French group called Les Mallabar came to the festival. In those days I worked behind the bar of a theater and Les Mallabars used the dressing rooms and the stage of this theater to put on their costumes and make-up.



It took more than two hours and while they were busy a friend had the time to take some pictures. All I have are some bad prints. I tried to clean them a bit in photoshop.







The show was in the evening hours and involved a lot of light and fireworks. The audience was taken on a tour through it's own city. The guides where giant insects that were sometimes frightning, sometimes funny, sometimes sweet.
I even got a spiders-kiss on my forehead. A black one.
It was all very spectacular and the images stayed in my head. The next day I had to do a picture. More than ten years later it's my entry for Illustration Friday.
Hope you like it.

7 comments:

Abbie said...

The photographs are marvelous! Such contrast between the black and whites.. Your recollection of that night is excellent too! What a great piece you did to perserve it!

Cindy said...

Spectacular! It must have been awesome to see in person. Thanks for sharing.

Saul Iscariot said...

What a great story, and how wonderful to inspire such a great picture. I don't know which jealousy I'm torn between? I'd have loved to be there, but I'd also love to be able to do such a great pic.

carla said...

That's really amazing! I love the illustration; it's so full of magic with its glow and movement. The photos and the stpry were very fascinating. That must have been quite an expereince.

MD said...

Grat picture and great story!
MD

The Unknown said...

Love the illo and words. Great job.
love

georg said...

oh yes, I like it! The atmosphere of the speciel night you show in a great way with the people looking and the background of fireworks! thanks for the story!