Gilles Rainville illustration

The creation of life is a miracle every creature experiences. From plants, to insects, to animals, to us, this cycle is inevitable and beautiful. Embryo is a representation of the interconnectivity and interdependance of life within nature.  This design was inspired by my previous work In Utero  https://gillesrainville.blogspot.com/2017/05/cycle-in-utero.html Enjoy! The term Mama Bear, for me, has always meant a mother at her most caring, protective and fearsome. That's why I chose grizzly bears as my subject. The roots were chosen as a symbol for the interconnectivety of life that surrounds us all.   I started by doing a quick sketch of my idea. Here are the photos I referenced for this piece. After choosing my references, my design changed. I probably should have drawn a new sketch but instead I dove right into the piece. I started by gesturing in the basic forms, making sure that I had the right ...

"The concept of a  tree of life  is a widespread archetype  in the world's m ythologies , related to the concept of s acred tree  more generally,  and hence in religious  and p hilisophical  tradition." Wikipedia, 2017 You can find a myth or belief of a great tree serving as a symbol of the cycle of life everywhere: Yggdrasil in Norse mythology, the Persian myth of the Gaokerena world tree from ancient Iran, the acacia tree of Iusaaset from ancient Egypt, the Etz Chaim in Judaism, the Bodhi tree from the Buddhist tradition, the tree of life from Christian faith. The World on the Turtle's Back from the Iroquois tradition was created by planting bark from the tree of life.  I had started an ambitious drawing representing this idea eight years ago. At the time I was not ready to accomplish something of that magnitude. And so, it was started but never finished. Stored in the closet, moving from home to home but never thrown out....