Gilles Rainville illustration

                Cortus (latin) - 1. breaking out (storm) . 2. coming into being, birth. 3. rising, originating. Oxford English Dictionary This illustration is the first in what I hope to be a series of illustrations exploring the cycle of life, the origin of our spirit and the human relationship with nature. I started this illustration as part of a challenge set out by the hosts of Drawing at the Rooster, Peter Purdy and Rebecca Gilman. The challenge was simple; produce artwork inspired by a drawing created during a Drawing at the Rooster evening. Here is the drawing that I chose.   My idea was to have animals coming to life directly from nature. The model was to represent nature. I started by drawing her on the left side of the page. Next, I researched animals that I thought represented this woman. The Canadian horse for strength and confidence. The red-tailed hawk for her free spirit, and the fox bec...

For the Birds... I chose to finish the jackdaw drawing over the summer. I`ve been sharing the results with the children at the school and  they have loved it.

For the Birds... Whenever I find myself sitting with children indoors without a lesson to teach or simply waiting for a class to begin, I will take out my sketch book, find a photo of something   (lately it has been birds) and start drawing from the photo . Here's what was sketched lately.