The Return of Son of Incogneato

Son of Incogneato (re)enters the Blogosphere

2012-02-15T17:52:00.000+01:00

"And don't come back, ya lazy bum!"

I'm Baaack!
(See Son Returns! page to find out why)

Quietus (watercolor on paper)

2009-06-03T23:30:00.004+02:00

People ask me; is she dead? Sleeping? Dreaming? I'm not sure; perhaps all three.

Arboreus (watercolor on paper)

2009-06-03T23:15:00.001+02:00

Parzival (watercolor on paper)

2009-06-03T22:15:00.001+02:00

Parzival is one of my favorite literary figures, although my main source is
the Wolfram Von Eschenbach story, Parzival, not Le Morte d'Arthur. Here's my attempt to portrait the legendary Grail knight in one of his lonelier moments.
For interested parties, here is Parzival underway: Parzival in steps

Venus Catenatus (watercolor on paper)

2007-06-02T03:27:00.000+02:00

Domus (watercolor on paper)

2007-06-02T03:00:00.002+02:00

The Wanderer (watercolor on paper)

2007-06-02T02:02:00.001+02:00

Dragonwood (pen & ink on paper)

2007-06-02T01:22:00.001+02:00

You can be sure of a warm welcome if you take the old castle road through Dragonwood . . .

Peregrinus (watercolor on paper)

2007-06-02T00:30:00.006+02:00

IF: Dusty

Except for the occasional oasis it was a dry and dusty land ...

Entangled (watercolor and colored pencil on paper)

2007-06-02T00:10:00.002+02:00

Exspecto (watercolor on paper)

2007-06-02T00:07:00.011+02:00

I did a pencil sketch for the tree earlier. You can see it here at Tree Study.

As is probably rather obvious, I am uncommonly fond of trees.

Decipio (watercolor on paper)

2007-06-01T01:20:00.005+02:00

Castellum (watercolor on paper)

2007-06-01T01:17:00.004+02:00

You can see the step by step process of this painting at this link Castellum from start to finish .

Succubus (watercolor on paper)

2007-06-01T01:15:00.002+02:00

The heart of a succubus is forever vacant . . .

The Oracle (watercolor on paper)

2007-04-27T20:30:00.000+02:00

Strength in Stone, Wood and Words . . .

The Wizard's Abode (watercolor on paper)

2007-04-26T20:31:00.008+02:00

Another Time, Another Place (color inks on paper)

2007-04-23T23:22:00.002+02:00

This is one my earliest paintings, back when I was experimenting with colore inks. When I say earlier, that would mean that it’s probably older than many of you viewing it.
Perhaps of interest to my future biographer: the yellow/orange plant-thing in the middle right foreground is taken from an even earlier painting, which is my very first acrylic painting and can be viewed here; Alien Plantlife .
As with many of my paintings and drawings, I have no idea where either of these pieces are, or if they indeed still exist at all.

The Ever Winding Path (pen & ink on paper)

2007-04-23T23:20:00.001+02:00

Climbing the path of knowing, one must sometimes make leaps of faith . . .
For those who are interested; here's the path this drawing took, from
beginning to end - The Ever Winding Path

Venator (watercolor on paper)

2007-04-23T22:35:00.004+02:00

The beast in his lair, guarding his hoard of stolen treasures . . .

Separated (watercolor on paper)

2007-04-23T22:34:00.000+02:00

Dali's Car (color ink on paper)

2007-04-23T22:33:00.000+02:00

With a Red Balloon for a Best Friend (watercolor on paper)

2007-04-23T22:30:00.001+02:00

Murble la Poof
NB: Somewhere in the back of my mind, lost in the clutter and junk that is my memory, roams a sneaky suspicion that I have used this illustration before. As long as it merely remains a suspicion (and a sneaky one at that), I think I’ll use it anyway.

The original Wanderer (color inks on paper)

2007-04-23T22:28:00.001+02:00

This is what it looked like before I butchered it with software.
Actually, this painting has gone through several changes. I did an outdoor show in Colorado many years ago. A woman asked me if I was concerned about the effects of the harsh mountain sunlight on my watercolors/inks. No, I foolishly laughed. This particular painting used to have green grass …

En Liten Lur (watercolor on paper)

2007-04-23T22:26:00.002+02:00

Beneath (pen & ink on paper)

2007-04-22T23:10:00.001+02:00

Beneath the birch lives a strange little man in his strange little house ...

There are some things else hidden here ... can you find them?

The Hunter And The Hunted (watercolor on paper)

2007-04-22T12:24:00.002+02:00

This one is a bit of a conundrum. First off, it’s an old painting and it’s been on my blog for quite a while. I did scan it in again this evening on my new scanner, since the last version was so crappy, so there is something new about it. The main problem - and there are plenty with this one - is that you really can’t tell what’s going on here. Story of my life. But guess what? I know what's going on. And I’m going to tell you all about it.

Up in the trees squats an impatient Grendel-type beasty, with a large rock in his paws and a sinister-looking knife stuck in the branch by his side. He is waiting for some foolish soul to come along the path that leads past this little opening in the forest (the tiny figure coming up the path in the background). Our clueless traveller will see a bag of gold spilled out amongst the tree roots in the opening and, ignoring all the advice his parents ever gave him, nip in to collect this windfall treasure. It will be the last thing he ever does (witness the scull in the lower left foreground). The beast clobbers our unwitting fool with the rock and then hops down and finishes him off with the knife. Yeah, kind of gruesome, I guess.

Now I’m not making excuses (yes I am) but a lot of these paintings really do function better when viewed live, in the original version, so to speak. It helps to be able to say ‘what the hell is that’ and stick your nose right into them to see the hidden stuff, of which there can be quite a bit. Nevertheless – this all points to what I would call faulty or weak composition. Live and learn; that’s pretty much alpha and omega with illustration. So . . . in my later work I have tried to focus on stronger and less haphazard composition. Okay, class over for today.

By the way, there is a moral to this story. Or rather, this painting is supposed to illustrate a moral. That part you’ll have to figure out for yourself . . .

The Wanderer [Northwards] (watercolor and color inks on paper)

2007-04-15T16:12:00.001+02:00

The past lays behind, mystery ahead

I'm Rooting For Nature (pen & ink on paper)

2007-04-02T23:36:00.000+02:00

Planet Earth First - After all, she's our Mom.

Lucid Dream Portal (pen & ink on paper)

2007-04-02T23:25:00.000+02:00

Déjà vu (pen & ink on paper)

2007-04-02T20:38:00.000+02:00

'I could have sworn I've been down this path before ...'

Souls In Flight (pen & ink put through the software blender)

2007-04-01T23:17:00.001+02:00

Souls in Flight – this is from a card I made for my lovely daughter who had a birthday last week. I felt it kind of fit the current IF bill as well, so here it is.
It started as a simple pen & ink which then got dragged (kicking and scratching) through the GIMP transmogrifier, with an added dash of ACDSee trickery for the finishing touch.

Earlier version of The Wizard's Abode (watercolor on paper)

2007-03-26T20:30:00.003+02:00

Livet I Trærne Er Herlig! (watercolor on paper)

2007-03-26T20:28:00.003+02:00

This is an awful photo of this painting. It was given away as a wedding gift and I had forgotten to take a photo of it before it left my hands. I asked the recipients if they could make a photo of it for me (they live in Vienna, which is kind of far from here), and they did the best they could. The water is in fact light green, not beige, and the colors are generally more brilliant.
Thanks to digital photography I’ve gotten much better at taking photos of my work. That means the newer ones are truer to the way they actually look, some of the older ones being ‘altered’ by crappy light or whatever.

A Nice Pipe of Special Mix ... (watercolor on paper)

2007-03-26T20:26:00.006+02:00

Icarus (pen & ink on paper)

2007-03-26T20:10:00.001+02:00

Icarus demonstrating the seeming impossibility of flight.

In death he most likely attained that which he couldn't find in life . . .

Butterflies For Breakfast (pen & ink/digital)

2007-03-26T20:06:00.004+02:00

Before the sun has crested those hills, somebody will have eaten this poor little butterfly for breakfast. It's Nature's Way.
There are several candidates here, but it's kind of hard to pick them out.
Two hints:
1) Butterfly-eating plant
2) Butterfly-eating snake (a rather small one)

Torture - Magnified ad infinitum (pen & ink/digital manipulation)

2007-03-26T20:06:00.001+02:00

Here's the original drawing for those who are interested: original undigitalized version

Hulder (pen & ink on paper)

2007-03-26T20:05:00.002+02:00

Hidden in this picture is a Hulder, a kind of Norwegian witch. You’ll find them haunting the deep Northern forests, hidden along paths, waiting. Not that you’d want to. They possess an ethereal beauty; with a sly smile they beckon you to follow after them. When they turn to go you’ll see their tail, but then it’s too late. Those who follow their craving for these alluring demons are never seen or heard of again . . .

Slither (color inks on paper)

2007-03-26T20:04:00.000+02:00

Mocca Tears (pen & ink)

2007-03-26T20:03:00.001+02:00

A Brief Respite (pen & ink on paper)

2007-03-26T20:01:00.002+02:00

This is kind of a doodle from work, drawn during a meeting.
A certain Line A. bent over and 'filled' the wine glass with her red pen.
The finishing touch! That makes this a joint effort.

Superbia (pen & ink on paper)

2007-03-26T19:58:00.010+02:00

In A Distant Land (pen & ink on paper)

2007-03-26T19:57:00.006+02:00

Fredrich (pen & ink on paper)

2007-03-26T19:57:00.005+02:00

The sorrowful Jube-Jube tree was having it's fruits subtracted by Fredrich, who was intent on adding them, at a later date, to himself.

I kind of liked Fredrich when he first appeared, so I decided to honor him with his own painting. Unfortunately this is back when I was (unsuccessfully) experimenting with colored inks, so it didn’t quite turn out as I wanted it to. Nonetheless, you can view The Return of Fredrich here: The Return of Fredrich

Akhenaten's Daughter (pen & ink on paper/digital background)

2007-03-26T19:57:00.004+02:00

She ought to have a wrinkle or two – she’s over 3000 years old . . .

Despair (pencil on paper)

2007-03-26T19:00:00.005+02:00

The Sugary Poppie Fairy (ink on papir/digital)

2007-03-26T14:57:00.000+02:00

A close relative of the Sugar Plum Fairy . . .
Here's a link to the unretouched drawing: Fairy.

Fall (pen & ink on paper)

2007-03-26T02:58:00.001+02:00

Fearless (pen & ink on paper)

2007-03-26T02:55:00.000+02:00

An unexpected encounter with several nasty trolls ...
This is an illustration I did for a series of Norwegian short stories about trolls.

Sylvaticus (watercolor on paper)

2007-03-26T00:09:00.005+02:00

Dragon Slayer (watercolor on paper)

2007-03-05T19:24:00.000+01:00

Tom Bombadil [text J.R.R. Tolkien] (watercolor on paper)

2007-02-20T20:52:00.004+01:00

Old Tom Bombadil was a merry fellow;
bright blue his jacket was and his boots were yellow,

green were his girdle and his breeches all of leather;
he wore in his tall hat a swan-wing feather.
He lived up under Hill, where the Withywindle
ran from a grassy well down into the dingle . . .

Wilderness (watercolor on paper)

2007-02-19T20:39:00.006+01:00

Lacerta (ink on paper)

2007-02-19T20:39:00.005+01:00

A Spot Of Iffy Weather (pen & ink on paper)

2007-02-19T20:38:00.004+01:00

Stranger In A Strangle Land (pen & ink on paper)

2007-02-15T22:25:00.003+01:00

Hero (pencil & ink on paper)

2007-01-02T18:57:00.002+01:00

Amanita muscaria (watercolor on paper)

2006-08-08T20:46:00.001+02:00

Although myself an avid mushroom hunter (and eater; Cantarelles) one would do well to show extreme caution when rooting about in the kingdom of the shrooms. If you are not at least 120% sure of what it is, leave it alone. The results of downing a meal of Amanita virosa, the destroying angel, are indeed dire, as the common name would indicate.
The species in this illustration, Amanita muscaria, aka the fly agaric, is not as bad as its reputation, although I certainly wouldn't recommend trying your luck on it, either. The name fly agaric is thought to have been derived from its special European use; when pieces are sprinkled in a dish with milk it is said to attract and kill flies. It has also been reported that Siberian shaman have used this colorful fellow as an entheogen, that is a plant or mushroom that 'creates god within'. That's a hallucinogen to you or me, especially me. Definitely not one to try at home as the symptoms include nausea, twitching, drowsiness, cholinergic crisis-like effects (low blood pressure, sweating and salivation), auditory and visual distortions, mood changes, ataxia, and loss of equilibrium. That's pretty much me on any given Monday morning. I don't even know what ataxia is, but it does not sound good.

Be that as it may, they are lots of fun to paint. How often do you get to use scarlet red with such reckless abandon?

Well, since quite a few of you seemed to like the Amanita, I may as well trot out his companion, especially since there is a typical Son disaster story connected to it. By the way, this is Lepista nuda, aka the Wood Blewit. Or is it?

Back when I was studying botany at the University of Oslo, I thought I might earn some pocket money on the side by illustrating articles and publications for the professors at the Biology Institute. I knew most of them in the plant and fungus departments pretty well and decided one day to make my pitch. I cornered mycology professor G.G. in her office and trotted out my mushroom illos. She stopped at this one.
'What's this?' she asked me with a puzzled voice.
' Lepista nuda,' I said, squirming a bit. Like, aduh. I mean, wasn't it obvious? Except there was one little problem. See, I had just done a series of three fungi as an art project - as apposed to a biology project. The first illo was the red Amanita, the second was a yellow shroom, I think it was a Common Yellow Russla (Russula ochroleua), although I'm a bit uncertain. That picture disappeared (unphotographed and lost forever) with many other drawings and paintings in the undertow when my second marriage sank like an anvil to the bottom of the existential ocean.

In any case, when I started on the third illo I decided it was time for something green. For the series. Except the mushroom that I wanted to use, the Wood Blewit, was a tawny brown, not green. But you might remember I said 'art project'; so what did the constrains of actual color matter? I work with an open palette. Introducing a new ecotype, the green Woody Blewit.

Professor G.G. was neither particularly impressed nor amused. I had sacrificed hard science on the soft, squishy alter of aesthetics. I'd blown it - there went my biological illustration career off the cliff, like a flock of lemmings. Or should I say, I Blew-it.

Through the wonders of Internet you can see the actual insulted Blewit here: nuda
My heartfelt apologies to Mr. Phillips.

- Son

Cage (pen & ink)

2006-08-06T17:02:00.001+02:00

Mostly we construct our own cages ...

Cocoon (pen & ink/photo/digital treatment)

2006-07-24T23:27:00.000+02:00

Idle (color pencil on paper)

2006-07-24T17:36:00.001+02:00

Remember that old adage ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’? Well, not any more. In our modern, always-on-the-go world even the dead need not be idle. Here’s an exciting exercise that even the recently deceased can enjoy; it’s called ‘Lie on the Floor’. It’s quite easy – all you have to do is lie on the floor. Take a break after a day or two and then repeat. Forever.

Giant Thing (pen & ink/digital coloring)

2006-07-02T23:33:00.001+02:00

Lost in the Land of Nod. Asking directions of a Giant Thing.

Trouble on Satellite Station 42 (pen & ink/digital coloring)

2006-06-25T23:39:00.001+02:00

Trouble on Satellite Station 42; somebody forgot to turn the oven off after making a late-night pizza ...

The Magician’s Ride (watercolor on paper)

2006-06-12T20:09:00.000+02:00

Unfolding her massive wing, she preened her feathers, awaiting the master’s return . . .

The Path to the Dark Side (pen & Ink/digital)

2006-06-08T22:58:00.000+02:00

The Path to the Dark Side . . . of the Moon (with apologies to W.T. Horton).

Artificial (color pencil on paper)

2006-05-03T23:08:00.000+02:00

Artificial. Art – i – Facial. Pretentious. Wannabe. Too bad it’s a self-portrait (body stolen from the Ric Ocasik ‘Beatitude’ album cover).

Strung Out (pencil/ink/watercolor/digital)

2006-05-03T23:07:00.000+02:00

Scattered (acylic on canvas board)

2006-05-03T23:06:00.003+02:00

Late Afternoon (acrylic on canvas board)

2006-05-03T23:06:00.001+02:00

Dream Flight Path (color pencil/ink on paper)

2006-05-03T23:05:00.002+02:00

Homage To Klee (watercolor on paper)

2006-05-03T23:05:00.001+02:00

Okay . . . hierarchies are all about different levels and this painting is all about different levels so that's me for this week's IF.
This painting is also a sort of homage to someone high in my ‘hierarchy’ of modern painters.
I’ll give you a couple of hints; although born in Switzerland he was German by nationality throughout his life. He finally attained Swiss nationality six days after hs died. He had his first solo exhibition in 1910 and remained active until his death in 1940. An interesting factoid; he spent WWI painting camouflage on German biplanes. One can only fantasize what they must have looked like.

The Four Winds (acrylic on canvas)

2006-05-03T23:04:00.001+02:00

Cell (color pencil on paper)

2006-05-03T23:04:00.000+02:00

Layer (watercolor and ink on paper)

2006-05-03T23:03:00.000+02:00

Wide Open (acrylic on canvas-board)

2006-05-03T21:22:00.000+02:00

Doors have always appealed to me. And open doors obviously appeal more than closed ones. Who knows what’s on the other side? Cross the threshold and you’re suddenly somewhere else . . .

Visitation (acrylic on canvas board)

2006-05-03T21:21:00.001+02:00

GeoCity (acrylic on canvas board)

2006-05-03T21:20:00.000+02:00

I've always been fond of black and white patterns . . .

Hortulus (acrylic on canvas-board)

2006-05-03T21:19:00.003+02:00

Some untitled abstract stuff (acrylic on prepared paper)

2006-05-03T09:54:00.009+02:00

1

2

3

4

Dreamscape (acyrlic on canvas paper)

2006-05-03T09:52:00.000+02:00

The Keeper of the Gate (watercolor on paper)

2006-04-23T11:28:00.002+02:00

Messenger (watorcolor on paper))

2006-04-21T11:28:00.000+02:00

This fellow has clearly travelled far and has yet far to go ...

Angst (colored pencil and acrylic on prepared paper)

2006-03-08T20:45:00.003+01:00

The Heart of the Sunrise (watercolor on paper)

2006-03-08T20:40:00.000+01:00

Despero (watercolor on paper)

2006-02-26T23:57:00.008+01:00

At the secret place, deep in the forgotten forest, she heard the

the ancient voices. Yet she heard them alone - no-one else

to share them with, for no-one else could hear them . . .

Gone (watercolor on paper)

2006-02-15T23:11:00.004+01:00

Libido (pen & ink on paper)

2006-02-15T19:17:00.007+01:00

IF: Poise - It's all in the wrist on the ankle.

No Countries, One Flag (pen & ink on paper)

2005-12-01T19:50:00.000+01:00

Savour (pen & ink on paper)

2005-12-01T07:48:00.000+01:00

Agaricus bisporus - sautéed in butter …

Uh-oh (pen & ink on paper)

2005-10-18T13:05:00.001+02:00

Woolly Bully (pen & ink on paper)

2005-09-26T19:43:00.002+02:00

Many years ago I lived on a commune together with some people who were very seriously into wool. I mean Very Seriously. To be fair, this was in Norway and it tends to be quite chilly in the winter months. Still, I felt they went overboard with their wool socks, wool underwear (!!!), wool mittens, wool jackets, wool hats, wool slippers, wool sweaters, wool pantyhose and everything else wool that they packed themselves into. They even had wool jewellery. And of course it was all raw, organic wool, extra itchy.
Me, I’m allergic to the stuff; I break out in hives at the mere sight of a wool scarf. Anyhow, to show them how little I appreciated their strange fetish I made this drawing mocking them and their woollen wrappings. The text, which is in Norwegian, is even more condescending.
I guess that makes me a woolly bully. (Scrift and text - Kristin Hertzberg)

Dance Macabre (pen & ink/digital)

2005-09-26T13:17:00.001+02:00

This is the first draft of a possible cover illustration for the novella Dance Macabre, by Diane Nelson. An excellent and unique piece of writing.

Here's the final version with titles. You'll find Dance Macabre and other fine stories in the anthology Dancing in the Dark at this link: http://www.dancinginthedarkanthology.weebly.com/. Note: This is adult reading material.

Renewal (color pencil on paper)

2005-07-31T20:59:00.000+02:00

This piece has a sister, for those who might be interested: Heaven and Earth

Heaven and Earth (color pencil on paper)

2005-07-31T20:58:00.000+02:00

I love playing with colored pencils: the brilliance, the textures, the quality of movement.

Darky (pen & ink on paper)

2005-02-01T00:11:00.003+01:00

Darky the Bogg had always felt that having been equipped with wings yet remaining flightless was a glaring flaw in his biological blueprints. On top of that, it was just plain sad . . .

Pale (ink on paper/digital coloring)

2005-01-16T21:42:00.002+01:00

Regular visitors to The Return of Son of Incogneato will be quick to note that this is not a typical Son motif nor usual drawing style. Uh, like where’re the trees, Dude? To this I can only say that sometimes one needs to kick out some figurative.
For added fun I’ve decided to follow in the footsteps of Tammie from Spirithelpers and do a mini-quiz.

Here we go: What’s this person’s gender and what’s he wearing?

Damn, I already gave away the first part. Okay - be the first to correctly identify the 'clothing' and I’ll send you something. I don’t know what yet, but I’ll try to make it something relatively cool, like the miniature plastic jujutsu Snoopy I’m looking at right now. Btw, clothing means the dress-thing, not the headgear or Lolita shades.
Otherwise, for some beautiful photography and wise, gentle words, treat yourself to a visit to Tammie’s place: http://miztlee.blogspot.com/. You never know what kind of magic you might find there . . .

Chicken Pants (pen & ink on paper)

2005-01-14T22:27:00.000+01:00

Chicken with special pants.

Containment (pen & ink on paper)

2005-01-10T19:20:00.001+01:00

This a detail from a larger piece: Stranger In A Strangle Land

Sex (color inks on paper)

2004-11-21T09:38:00.000+01:00

Atomic Sunset (color pencil on paper)

2004-11-05T11:29:00.000+01:00