Illustration Friday--Stir
Lots of strange things stirring in the waters here.
This image is my contribution to Ascender Rises Above's Challenge to redo a paint by number image.
Here's the paint by number I started with, entitled Archway to Venice, easily available online, if you want to try a makeover all your own:
The picture struck me as a bit empty and flat, somehow, despite the boats and the canal.
For my makeover, I knew I wanted to move from day to night, knew I wanted a lot more things going on inside the archway, but really only discovered what I wanted this to *be* after googling images and stories of Venice itself, with its rich Carnival history, and its sense of bordering two worlds--one all dark water, full of dragons and demons, one dry, bright and and focused on the divine.
Carnival seems to be a good metaphor for that line between dark and light.
If you look carefully, you can find angels and dragons here, manuscripts illuminated and otherwise, some of the lions that guard the city, and quite a few people dressed for Carnival.