Ratlion Has Moved....

... to Ratlion's Den.
See you there!

Illustration Friday: Poem

Hi all.

For this week's topic 'Poem' I'm putting up two illustrations I did for two poems- one written by my cousin and the other by Dogcrab. They've been up on the blog before (sometime last year) but never as Illustration Friday submissions and so here they are - 'Sandcastle' & 'Castle of the Moon'...

Cheers.

Sandcastle by the Sea

Copyright Radha Ramachandran a.k.a. Ratlion

Sand castles that tumble down,
The waves that are gentle and yet strong,
Take away what you think was yours,
No matter what you try, it’s all gone.
How foolish can you be?
To build sand castles near the sea.
But funny, isn’t it?
Where else will sand castles be?
Nothing stops you, not even the pain,
Still there is nothing to gain,
The waves will come, the castles will fall,
All you can do is, build them again…

Poem Copyright 2006 Shobana Jayraman

The Castle of the Moon

Copyright Radha Ramachandran a.k.a Ratlion

Perched atop a grassy hill,
beside a river running swift and chill,
where mountain winds are never still,
stands the Castle of the Moon.

It has no equal, it stands alone;
great high walls of cold grey stone
guard the gilded, mighty throne
of the Castle of the Moon.

There is a wide moat and sixteen walls,
forbidding towers and marble halls,
and haunted dungeons where no sunlight falls
in the Castle of the Moon.

A pond in the pale moonlight glitters,
the birds cease their sleepy twitters,
and a bat on silent wing flitters
over the Castle of the Moon.

In the great hall lies a splendid feast
celebrating the death of a fire-breathing beast
slain in the mountains to the East
of the Castle of the Moon.

In ivory and black, and in red and gold,
rest the faithful soldiers bold,
warming themselves from the cold
in the Castle of the Moon.

The minstrel plays upon his lyre,
sings as he sits beside the fire,
sings of adventure and desire
in the Castle of the Moon.

On his seat rests the lord,
with his hand upon his sword,
in blue robes and golden cord,
in the Castle of the Moon.

A damsel on the casement sings,
clad in white and emerald rings,
and waits for the love her fair knight brings
to the Castle of the Moon.

Forever will it proudly stand,
repelling invaders from distant lands,
standing gaunt, but standing grand -this is the Castle of the Moon.

Poem Copyright Dogcrab

Illustration Friday: Cars

Copyright 2007 Radha a.k.a Ratlion

For this week's challenge 'Cars' I'm reposting the illustration I did ages ago for Illo Fri's 'Speed' challenge.

It fits.

And besides, I'm beginning to feel sorry for my blog now. Really.

I had to do something!

Illustration Friday: Fortune & Polar

Copyright Radha Ramachandran a.k.a. Ratlion

Hello. I'm back! Well, for the moment at least! :D

Was looking for inspiration for last week's topic 'Fortune' when I came across this proverb,

'To attract good fortune, spend a new penny on an old friend, share an old pleasure with a new friend & lift up the heart of a true friend by writing his name on the wings of a dragon.'

It puzzled me for a second.

I mean I get the parts about spending a new penny on an old friend and sharing an old pleasure with a new friend cos' I figure if you believe 'What goes around comes around' those acts might attract good fortune in the long run. But the bit about the dragon?

:D

Anyhoo, I could'nt get the proverb out of my mind (it's so beautifully quirky and nonsensical!) and so decided to go with it. However, Friday evening came by and I still had'nt completed it so I figured I'd just post it next week along with next week's topic if I managed to get around to doing an illo for that. But when I read this week's topic 'Polar', all I really felt like doing was to add a polar bear to the existing illustration. It just seemed to fit perfectly with the quirky proverb.

So here you have it. A girl lifting the heart of her true friend by writing his name on the wings of a bewildered (and friendly) dragon, while the equally bewildered (and friendly) polar bear looks on.

:D

Cheers!

Illustration Friday: Total

Copyright Radha Ramachandran

"Totally Lost"

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Copyright Radha Ramachandran

Happy Birthday,Mom!

It's not finished yet, but I thought I'd send you a sneak preview as a birthday present! :)

Love,Radha

*UPDATE*

I think its done.Below are three different versions :

Copyright Radha Ramachandran

Copyright Radha Ramachandran

Copyright Radha Ramachandran

Illustration Friday: Sprout & Green

It's been ages since I did Illustration Friday (And that seems to be all I've been saying in this blog lately) but getting used to things at my first job and have basically been too swamped to do anything that's not job-related. You could say my entry for 'Total' pretty much sums up my state of mind lately.

:)

I hope to do a new one for this week, but in case it does'nt happen, and considering that it's already the middle of the week, as Plan B, I'm re-posting my entry for 'Sprout' ( a last-minute entry for that particular week!) as it seems kinda appropriate for this weeks topic 'Green'.

Cheers!

Illustration © Radha Ramachandran a.k.a Ratlion
(Click on image for a closer look)

Seed, Sprout, Flower
by Helen H. Moore

A seed is planted:
First a sprout,
then stem,
and leaves,
and buds
come out.
Buds grow bigger,
smelling sweet,
bees and birds come
‘round to eat.
Bees and birds
help flowers spread
their new seeds on
the garden bed…
A seed is planted.