Ms.
Elly Blue, femininst bicycle zinester and awesome small-press publisher, invited me to create the cover for her upcoming book,
Our Bodies, Our Bikes. (Just a few days left to
fund the project!)
We agreed that it would be inspired by the awesome tricks that bike dance groups like the
Sprockettes and the
Derailleurs perform.
Having a team of people engaged in the same pose was a great opportunity to allude to diversity of experiences in the book.
Not to mention the themes of interdependence and the importance of supporting each other.
Progress! But wait, is this looking to static? Too well-balanced? Do we need more dramatic tension?
I suggested a twist of
Nude Descending a Staircase. Elly suggested a dose of
Laocoön. Oh hey, says I, there's this neat French statue of
Hercules wrestling a giant snake at the
Portland Art Museum right now. Field trip!
Sketched while the baby was awake...
...and then sketched when the baby finally fell asleep.
With that inspiration, the bicycle acrobats are revisited.
Feather boa stands in for the snake, of course. Better! A future post will have the color version--stay tuned.
