Les Ramoneurs de Menhirs: Melissa Hecker

Conversations with the Earth: Melissa Hecker

Les Rem. de Men poster sketch: Melissa Hecker

I am still working with how I want the text to be incorporated (possibly in the hair or leave it at the top). Also since it is a celtic punk band I was going to put a celtic design on the patch of his sleeve.

Wangari Maathai: Melissa Hecker

Wangari Maathi, Melissa Hecker

This is the sketch I will use to collage over. I used the computer as a tool to create a template of how I would like to block the color. The collage will be a mix of both digital and paper collage which is a new method I have been interested in and wanting to explore.

Wangari Maathai

http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/wangari-maathai

Maathai was born in 1940 and died in 2011. She was the founder of the Green Belt Movement and the winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. She was an environmentalist and political activist in Kenya, who believed the environment was an issue of "now" and not "tomorrow." She was most interested in sustainability, peace and democracy. However she faced challenges of authority in government who control the resources. Yet, she established the Green Belt movement which took a step forward in addressing poverty and environmental conservation. Among other things, they create income opportunities for rural farmers to grow tree seedings. Groups of women also participate in the planting of trees. After planting over a million trees in one specific area, Kenyans were able to see their land restored slowly, but surely back to health. Before conservation, the land was very degraded. But after the trees were planted and grew, it helped immensely with the erosion problems and gave the community clean water.

Communities in Kenya are still using the methods they were taught from the Green Belt Movement. People living in poverty are more educated farming and sustainability which will then be passed on to the next generations. What Wangari did for her people was more than necessary and it has sparked a change in the way people live their lives.

Belgium S-B Melissa Hecker

Belgium research & sketches: Melissa Hecker

   I was really intrigued by the work of Rene Margritte and Leon Spilliaert. Margritte was a Belgian surrealist painter who used themes of ordinary objects in an unusual context.

   Here are some rough sketches of their work that I emulated. I would like to work with the aesthetic of architecture juxtaposed with landscape. This has been a common theme in some of my previous work.  I would like to experiment with different compositions of negative and positive space through the use of monochromatic tones.

   For the content of my illustration, I am mostly interested in authentic Belgian architecture, specifically from Brussels. Here are some images of buildings that I referenced.

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/brussels.html 

Also it is interesting to see the changes in Belgian architecture throughout the centuries. This is a good website I found that lists images of buildings starting with the Romanesque era and ending with current 21st century buildings.

http://www.eupedia.com/belgium/belgian_architecture.shtml

Florist Family: Melissa Hecker

Happy Family: Melissa Hecker