Last week, the latest round of Spark ended (and once again I participated).* As in the past, that also means that I have a new crop of unpublished iterations to share with you here.

The written inspiration piece I was assigned this go-round was more complex than some I’ve gotten in the past and dealt with loss. But it ended hopefully, and so the earliest iterations had a brighter daytime palette and look that isn’t always typical of my layered illustration style. What do you think? Where do these take you?

*If you’re not sure what I’m talking about when I mention Spark, you can see past entries in which I mentioned Spark here or learn more about it here.

During the recent cleaning ( and purging ) of my main hard drive, I’ve unearthed discarded folders of old work drafts and unpublished photos that have kept me busy for the last few days. This weekend was spent concentrating on photos, so today I’m focusing on illustrations to give my eyes and brain a break. And after going to a few art openings this weekend, the wheels in my head have been turning to spin new ideas into more work.

Here’s one piece I keep coming back to today:

It didn’t start the day off looking like this, beginning as a discarded draft from 2011 for a piece of an ongoing a group art project, Spark and evolving this morning into what you see above. It’s a little hard, even for me the creator, to believe the above is built with some of the same basic layers and rudiments as the original “final piece” from 2011. And to be honest, I think I like this piece better than the Spark 14 final from 2011. Granted, the piece for the Spark project was intended to visualize the text of a specific poem, but it feels somewhat static in its composition and a little flat. The piece above seems to have greater depth of both color and composition. What do you guys think? Where does this piece “take you”?