Forespoken

Original 8" x 10" acrylic painting on thick, acid-free paper. A rabbit man and a tortoise man meet in the dark woods. It seems they are practicing plastromancy, the art of divining what will be from the shell of a turtle, also called an oracle bone. Even though Tortoise Man helps him by holding the ink, Rabbit Man looks dejected, perhaps because he just realized that "slow and steady wins the race". The shell also is written with other familiar morals such as: It is useless to try to outwit time. Fine feathers do not make fine birds. What is bred in the bone will never out the flesh, and others. Forespoken.  You can find this painting and more at My Good Babushka.
The painting does not include the black bars used here for formatting, nor the "My Good Babushka" watermark that was included here for security purposes.

Forespoken. Aesop's Fables. Plastromancy. Oracle Bones

 A rabbit man and a tortoise man meet in the dark woods. It seems they are practicing plastromancy, the art of divining what will be from the shell of a turtle, also called an oracle bone. Tortoise Man helps him by holding the ink, but what will be written? Work still in progress.

Forespoken. Oracle Bone. Plastromancy. The Tortoise and the Hare.

A slow day of work today. I have to work up this furry costume, and study how it should fold. I only just started that.

Forespoken, the Oracle Bone. Tortoise Man and Rabbit Man.

I worked on the forest background, and started on my Rabbit Man. Rabbit Man has an anthropomorphic tortoise companion a la Tortoise and the Hare. I started thinking about oracle bones- the practice of divination by turtle shell (without the turtle in it) wherein heat is applied to the shell and the cracks that appear are "read", and sometimes the results are written on the shell. I decided that is what my Rabbit Man is doing, he is practicing plastromancy, and Tortoise Man is helping him. He's holding the ink. Rabbit Man looks a little sad, maybe because he just learned that "slow and steady wins the race".

Forespoken. The Tortoise and the Hare. Aesops Fables and Plastromancy

Sketch for a new work. I started with this furry character, rabbit-like person. Then I wondered what he could be doing. I gave him an anthropomorphic tortoise companion a la Tortoise and the Hare. Then I started thinking about oracle bones. The practice of divination by turtle shell (without the turtle in it) wherein heat is applied to the shell and the cracks that appear are "read", and sometimes the results are written on the shell. I decided that is what my Rabbit Man is doing, he is practicing plastromancy, and Tortoise Man is helping him. He's holding the ink.