Love Conquers All

Amor vincit omnia or Love conquers all features Bill and Ted, the guinea pigs I had when I was a kid. They loved each other so much that when Ted passed away from a stroke Bill died the very next day even though nothing appeared to be wrong with him. Guinea pigs need one another. There is even a law in Switzerland that you’re not allowed to own just one guinea pig. Seeing Bill die of a broken heart was a big life lesson for me at age 11, and I still dream about these immortal lovers.

Here I placed them in a courtly love setting. Bill is the troubadour serenading Ted in the tower. An army of guinea pig cupids aim their arrows as Ted rains down endless petals from his magical love flower.

In the center I drew them chewing happily together on a summer squash. At first glance the summer squash appears to be just about the most boring thing one could draw, and yellow is challenging. The only dark yellow I know of is yellow ochre, which makes subtlety difficult, and adding shadows tends to muddy yellow’s delicate hue. However, it was precisely because of these challenges that I found drawing the summer squash to be more interesting than I had anticipated.

They nibble together against a blue marbled background. For me marbled papers hint at a fairytale-esque quality, and since my work always has an element of story and fable, I like to use marbled papers to enhance this aspect since these papers were used so often in old fashioned book binding.

I already have my story for this piece, but I would love to hear if anyone else has a story about it, or a story about the love between their childhood pets. I received a lovely story about the squirrels from my last post, which I will add there. Check it out!

And here is a recipe for summer squash baked with parmesan!