pioneer (illustration friday)

(unfortunately, because my scanner is so small, i couldn't scan the entire image for you... hopefully, i'll have a new scanner by the weekend. and can rescan/upload again... or feel free to donate your old yet operating scanner to me! ;))

usually, i think "outside the box" when i get a prompt like pioneer. i didn't want to draw the archetypal westward bound american pioneer.

at first i saw images of lone figures in desperate landscapes... but i wasn't really inspired... then, i considered illustrating some pioneering fashion like issey miyake or thierry mugler or some harajuku or steampunk fashion... still nothing came to me...

so, i went back to the idea of the frontiersmen, the gold rush pan handlers, the chuck wagons and cowboys... one of my prized books in my fashion/costume book collection is "what people wore - a visual history of dress" by douglas gorsline. often the fashion history books give only what was trendy/fashionable from the time period, not necessarily what was worn everyday. gorsline's book on the other hand, illustrates a large cross section of the everyday clothes worn by different economic/social classes from ancient times until the early 1920s.

among the the characters depicted in the frontier/plains sections of the book were the outlaws and amongst them were some infamous ladies - Rose Dunn aka Rose of the Cimarron, Martha Jane Canary-Burke aka Calamity Jane and Pearl Hart.

i wondered what the childhoods of those three ladies were like and what if anything from their pasts informed the choices they made later in life...

i also wonder (a lot) about my own children and their future... and what, if anything, might make them turn into notorious outlaws... especially since they often perpetrate crimes and misdemeanors ending in multiple time outs already... but that's a whole other post for another day...

anyhoo... there it is... my truncated, unfinished (i still plan on coloring and shading in) and somewhat disturbing immortalization to some pioneering "bad girls".

and btw - best wishes for a happy new years eve, everyone! and a bright, peaceful and inspiring 2010!