Poetry & Illustration : W.I.P

I'm not normally one to share works in progress on my website, but I am so excited about what I'm working on currently that I just had to ! 
I wrote a long poem a few years ago about being swallowed by the sea. The sea is a metaphor for human emotion & the inner sanctum of my consciousness and my experience of myself. The poem touches on how I chose to be there for myself during a hard emotional time in my life, this comforting aspect manifested as the african goddess Yemanja of the sea. So far, I've illustrated the beginning sketches of the first part of the poem which includes her. She is pictured here to the left of me, making the form on the right a representation of my vulnerable emotional body. 

I am excited to reveal this as a series of illustrations alongside calligraphic text I create of my poem . I will be sure to include more updates as they develop here. For now, here is a look into my studio and my first concepts. Sometimes the most exciting part for me is not the finished illustration, but the process I go through to make it to completion.