Description:[
Patty] and announced a sort of ongoing "art duel" a while back, in which we're going to throw phrases/ideas at one another from time to time, and
both have a go at interpreting them in whatever creative way we like.
The phrase that sparked this picture was of Pat's choosing after watching too many movie special-effects":
"a wreath burning with green fire".
As for my thought processes...
The laurel wreath was a symbol of victory or prowess in Ancient Greece, but fire is a symbol of destruction. So what would a burning wreath suggest? A
Pyrrhic victory?
Extend the thought of the wreath further. To "rest upon one's laurels" is a phrase used to describe someone who coasts along on the merit of their past successes, not really going anywhere or doing anything constructive or
new. "To rest is not to conquer". It is to stagnate, to come to a standstill. A "still life", so to speak. And there you have it. A depressing series of thoughts, or perhaps my subconscious sending me a cautionary tale. Who knows?
The words are a line from John Darnielle's
The Young Thousands, and seemed to fit the mood when I was drawing the piece. The lyrics are probably a lot more threatening and portentous-sounding in the song than they are written down here.
The cool thing about this drawing (IMNSHO) is that it's invisible from most angles. Because the dark graphite was applied to dark paper, you can only really see any detail when the picture's tilted, or when the light hits it at an angle - in which case the graphite shines silver. That's roughly what you can see here, in spite of my very amateurish lighting set-up for the photo.
I was originally planning to take to the drawing with coloured pencils (hence the tinted paper), but for the time being I like the invisibility idea better.
Whoops... (is that your entry, then?)
The way you drew the smoke is just fantastic as well. 
Though I've never found it exciting, just disgusting.
