Imaginative Realism

     In acquiescence to your suggestions, I will narrow down my fantasy illustration proposal somewhat. I will be exploring the theme of realism through fantasy. This is still a potential minefield of semantics and oxymorons which I'm going to have to organize into a coherent defense. A very useful aid in this task will be "Imaginative Realism: How to Paint what doesn't Exist" by James Gurney. This book examines methods of painting the impossible/imaginary in a realistic manner. It isn't a step by step instruction book on how to paint dinosaurs or some such nonsense, rather it takes a look at how to "stretch the imaginative muscles".  James Gurney's artwork is super pooper dooper relevant to my proposal, and I will be delving into his long running blog for further research: http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-i-wrote-imaginative-realism.html

Artwork below is by James Gurney