I Dreamed That I Saw Unicorns

This is the final painting for my painting class. We had to illustrate a song, short story, or poem combining transparent and opaque techniques. The background is more watercolor-like and the foreground is opaque because I wanted it to have a feel similar to that of an animation still.

It took some experimenting to find the right mixture of paint, water, and matte medium that would give me the consistency that I wanted for the lineart, and I switched the brush I was using halfway through because I found a brush that pulled to a finer point than the one I started with.

I was going to mount this to illustration board but the thicker paint caused the paper to buckle and warp too much. I think.

I Dreamed That There Were Unicorns- Bill Caddick

We were traveling north to sing and play
For friends that we had never met
Been working hard and didn't speak
The sky was grey and threatened wet
And I dreamed that I saw unicorns
Dreamed I saw them wild and white
their sudden beauty lit the world
Like a star will light a winter's night

Pure as love with manes of milk
They danced and pranced and cried aloud
Bright as rainbows round the stars
Their eyes were soft and sad and proud

And I wept for the wild and dirty world
To which this beauty now was lost
And cursed the hungry mind of man
That feeds the future at such cost
My head was bowed, my eyes were closed
When in my ears their voices rang
And these few words lodged deep inside
And in my very soul they sang

We never went away
You always knew that we were near
Remember how to look for us
You'll see we were always here

I raised my eyes to seek them out
The world was empty all around
The rain came tumbling from the sky
It drowned all dreams upon the ground
And when they asked me why I wept
Like one who for his dead love mourns
The only answer I could give
I dreamed that there were unicorns
We never went away
You always knew that we were near
Remember how to look for us
You'll see we were always here

15X20 acrylic on Canson rough-press 124lb