Sketchbook project - "Heroes and Villains"

I just received my sketchbook from ArtHouse Co-op for creating my entry to the 2012 tour. (See more here: http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject).

When you sign up for this, you select a theme. There are about 40 very clever and intriguing themes to pick from and the ArtHouse folks emphasize that the theme should be a jumping-off place and not feel like a limitation. I'm so happy to have a longer time period to do my sketchbook this time, since deadline is not until January 2012. But I had no idea what I'd like to do as a theme really. So, sort of randomly, I picked "Heroes and Villains", thinking it could lend itself to quite a few possibilities.

Now, here's the magic of picking a theme for one's art - it gets those creative gears turning, even when you're not conscious of them doing so.

For example, I was recently obsessed with and engrossed in watching operas on the new Metropolitan Opera's "player", which lets you stream all kinds of amazing performances from recent and long-ago seasons to your laptop.

Talk about great heroes and villains, those opera characters.  (On the right is an image of the gorgeous John Relyea playing Mephistofeles.)

I started thinking of fun ways to incorporate that idea into the sketchbook.

Then, my attention was drawn to "Forks Over Knives", a compelling documentary about how we can truly use food as medicine to avoid expensive and painful (and unnecessary) operations like heart surgery.   At one point, I realized that certain chemical reactions of some foods could look like villains or heroes in the body.

Not sure how I'd portray that, but I want to!

Ultimately, if I can find a way to COMBINE these two ideas, that will make me the happiest.

Just thought I'd give a little insight into the creative process.  It fascinates me how our minds and hearts work and this has been an interesting example!