Carnival of the Animals Series is Here!

  If you've followed this blog, you've seen the illustration I made back in June for an Illustration Friday prompt of "vacation".  But as things often meander and converge in life, so did they in my subconscious.  As I worked, I heard the Aquarium portion of the orchestral suite, "The Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Saens.  It's magical sounding and is often used in movie soundtracks for similar sections of story.  That was the portion of the suite I knew the best and I couldn't even recall all the other animals.  I was intrigued, intrigued enough to consider illustrating the whole piece.
   When I dug up my recording of it, I found there were 13 creatures and a Finale.  Could I really pull this off?  Could my subconscious deliver on prompt, thirteen times?  With continuity?  And produce a Finale piece that referenced each of the creatures? 
   The music entranced me and I was hooked.
   I worked out some random color studies, letting my excess paint spatter onto clean paper.  I looked through the dried spatterworks, staring at and rotating them, searching for the first character: the lion.  "Introduction and March of the Royal Lion" was the exact name of the movement.
   Whoa, watch out!  Lion energy poured into my life.  People were in my face, leading me around, voicing their opinion on how things should go.  I learned the lion energy was fierce and showy and insists on being heard, roar!
   After I produced the lion, little subtle figures started popping out of the background: a frog, a rabbit and three birds.  They contrasted the lion energy with humor, smallness and a very different way of moving in the world.
   The lion energy roared glorious, confident and insistent: I will not be ignored.  He proved to be the perfect herald for the beginning of the tour of Saint-Saens' fantastical creatures.  And check out the video on it in the link below the image.

                                                  Carnival of the Animals: the Lion Video