Priscilla Hernandez: In my Mind's Eye (Original song and artworks): The power of imagination

An original song about the power of our imagination and also the making of the artworks I made for my own song, including works in progress.

Do not waste your time struggling to deny
those things that are real in your mind's eye
Do not fight against a reason to believe all is real...!

Everything you can imagine can become real... All is real in your mind´s eye.
Its power is so big, so uncanny, so undeniable...
The song speaks about
We free our will from its fraying bonds, we let our ability to imagine take over
to wonder, to create, to dream
to make it real even if only on our mind's eye
where everything is possible

Credits

Music, Lyrics, vocals and arrangements by Priscilla Hernandez @yidneth. I also played piano, hammered dulcimer, winds, and several folk instruments layered on production.
Mixing, mastering, percussion, additional arrangements by Héctor Corcín @hedac
Rabel (medieval violin) by Maria Montes. Cello by Biel Fiol

Still haven't listened... feel free to play it here too while you keep on reading

Poem and meaning of the song

Above: one of the illustrations I did for the song... It's inspired by the lines My will has been suspended by these fraying bonds but now I'll untie them all

In my mind's eye Lyrics

Come back my thrill
looming out the stirring
feelings you ignite
Wake up my will
get rid of the ropes
that grabbed you so tight
Been suspended
by these fraying bonds
but now I'll untie them all
Lost veiled memory
You´re feeding the seeds
of those words I never said
now joining into poetry
Dreams that won't come true
are deepening roots that break
through my core
Oh they grow, they shape
entwined in my mind´s eye
Buried deep
in my minds eye
Do not waste your time
struggling to deny
those things that are clear
in your mind's eye
Do not fight against
the reason to believe
all is real...
The shivering truth
a verse my sore lips
can´t help to recite
and in my solitude
it´s odd melody
sways over my heart
pulsing wild, untamed
beset by this curse again...!
Doubts I never hold
are conquering me by fright
with thoughts I once forgot
like ether gathering it all
The last remnant of my plan
to set free the echoes
haunting my head
Oh they grow, they shape
entwined
in my mind´s eye
And they tear, they scratch, they yearn...
Such uncanny gift
cannot be denied
so it's safely hidden
in my mind´s eye
Treasured in a place
that I can only find
buried deep
in my mind´s eye

From my album The Underliving

Drawing the artworks for "In my mind's eye"

The main character that appears in The Underliving is this little teenager girl in a nightgown that we obviously find very reminiscent of "Yidneth" (main female character in my own novel). She is depicted in several ages in different drawing but in many of them as young woman. Wether she is "Yidneth" herself, or in part, or just a host for "Yidneth" spirit is unknown... And I'm not going to reveal it because I'm not spoiling the story :) but during all her life she experience an Otherworld in which she see "ghosts" from the TRANSIT and other kind of creatures (from THE UNDERLIVING) or perceive the "spirits" of Nature, so in our "Yidneth" timeline, this is taking place before the final part of the comic ends. And yes, it's all about ghosts, fairies and Underlivings... my own realm of fantasy that I love to convey through my music and art... and hopefully share with you.

From concept idea to final drawing

So sharing here how I made the illustration for the cover of "In my mind's eye" from the very early doodle to the final result. I recently was asked if I use photography. I do believe that photo manipulation is also a way of creating art, but though I do it for some promotional pictures of myself, I don't use that technique when I paint my traditional illustrations. In fact many of my drawings carry mistakes because of not using photography reference, most of them are born with quick sketches on paper napkins. I often like the unclean built up of the rough sketch and I try very much not to lose the "freshness" of a quick doodle. It's very much like automatic writing.

So basic idea, an eye within an eye...

Basic idea and sketch... rough pencil on a piece of paper... they all start this way. Good excuse to watch TV or movies and sketch in pieces of paper while doing it so you don't feel guilty of wasting time.

Initial attempt was a bit too dark, though I kept the vignette effect for the final result but started to place to add detail to the iris.

I decided to opt for showing the girl inside the eye, both as reflection or maybe trapped inside it...
First sketch for her nightgown

Then I develop this idea of "containing her" as if trapped in he reflection, but I decide to go for a less cartoon cute style and show her more mature and older. I do a quick watercolor wash and scan all materials to composite digitally. I love to do paintings all in traditional but as I was unsure what option would I chose I opted for scanning and compositing ideas using my tablet to paint digitally.

So then It was time to make it "shine" and to composite a few corrected details, rough, but from far away the impression of the color and highlight is already there.
I place the girl, the hands needed several steps of corrections. I admit that as many artists I struggle with the complexity of hands.

Then I spent a "few hours" adding details to the iris to make it look more alive. I know the detailing is not perfect but it doesn't intend to be realistic but still have a distinct illustration and not just look like a photography. Then I polished the details of the girl face and other small things like the lace on her nightgown, the highlighted fingertips. I don't want the drawing to be very colourful... it has to match that silvery quality of the boundaries between awareness and reality.

When I finished I felt sort of proud with it and stared it back with my own "red blurred eyes" after another painting sleepless night...

I gazed at it... and looked through it

This was the final result:

Another illustration made for this song can be seen above along with the lyrics.

The Underliving

The UNDERLIVING is one of the four realms in Yidneth Universe, a world of things living but not alive. A world close to the LIVING casting their influence, weaving the fabric of our dreams and thoughts. The inhabitants of this realm never lived but have a presence that sometimes is perceive it when we shape it with our imagination. And thus there is an ambiguous second reading of the song... are our thoughts and musings really ours... or are they cast upon us by them. Let´s live it up to the mystery of it.*

The Underliving was my seconds illustrated music project Fear no More which I'm trying to get funded and that would be the third of my my illustrated music projects inspired in Yidneth Universe (which is not my name but the name of my project)
You can read a bit more about YIDNETH in this previous post on Steemit.
What is Yidneth?
https://steemit.com/steemitnamechallenge/@yidneth/steemit-name-challenge-what-is-yidneth-a-graphic-novel-nourishing-all-my-music-projects

Thanks for supporting my music

You can buy THE UNDERLIVING illustrated music album here http://theunderliving.com

You can also find this song in ITUNES or stream from SPOTIFY looking for my artist name "Priscilla Hernandez. It is only one out of the many songs in my second full EP The Underliving that you can buy both physical or digital from my official site
If you like it also please leave your feedbak, consider to follow, share, resteem :) all encouragement is welcome :)
I hope my third EP "Fear no More" will become real soon. But It is already real in my mind's eye