Model relationships

Deb   charcoal and pastel on toned paper   16 x 11

There is an unspoken communication between the artist and her model....a relationship, if you will.  A give-and-take.  And the artist is on the receiving end...we work with what we are given.  Some models seem to be emotionally closed off.  Some  seem "above" the give-and-take that leads to openness. Needless to say, portraits resulting from the above mentioned situations rarely provide great work from me.  I relish an honesty and an openness that allows for both the model and artist to reveal themselves without ego getting in the way.

I was pleased to spend time during my gallery "watch" sketching Deb.  She has an upbeat attitude that spills over.  Quite simply, I am inspired by her being.  This work was rendered on toned paper with charcoal pencil.  The pink pastel was worked horizontally through after the session was over.  I think the work benefits from this high voltage pink, which is her favorite color.  Thank you, Deb, for the sharing of yourself.

Posse

Posse   oil on canvas   20 x 20 x 1.5

The thrill for me is figurative painting.  Despite the fact that less personal (?) subject matter such as landscape and still life are more frequent sellers, I will stick to my guns...no pun intended.  My quest, most recently, is to explore archetypal moments, those scenes and memories that transcend generational gaps.  This, of course, is subjective..  As the mother of three sons, I just couldn't resist revisiting and reviving this vintage photograph of my husband, his brother and an unknown friend.  Little boys are superheroes.  They are policemen...and firefighters...and ghost-busters.  Wielding pretend swords, badges, karate chops and ghost-busting juice gives them power and helps them to feel not-so-small. This is my take on an age-old scenario from the life of little boys....posse.

Spooky is as spooky does.............

Skeleton   sketchbook drawing

Skeletons are intricate and complex.  Yet I am attracted to the drawing of them since I do so many paintings of the human figure.  It is helpful to understand what lies beneath the surface.  Although I am not a memorizer of bones or muscles, and never have been, I can only hope that the structure of the human form finds its way into my brain by osmosis.  Lucky for me, Judy Adkins, the art teacher whose wonderful classroom I borrow for my class, has one constantly hanging around.  Our assignment was "pot luck", as we used our view finders (standard rectangle) to scope out subjects for drawing.  We are working on composition and creating 4-5 major shapes in the work that fit together in an exciting combination.  Believe me, there is enough subject matter in this room for a lifetime of drawings!  We all worked quickly and quietly....the time passed so fast I couldn't believe it!  Although I could easily have spent 2-3 more hours refining all the shapes and honing details, I am pleased that this drawing  still retains the original energy that excited me from the first.  I will, in this case, let sleeping dogs lie.

Or would that be sleeping skeletons?

Life is just a chair of bowlies....

Cherry Branch   oil on canvas   4 x 12 x 1.5

is quote from Mary Engelbreit and was seen on many of her greeting cards and like paper products some years past.  This quote always tickled my silly bone and reminded me not to take anything too seriously and to relish the unforeseen turn of events that peppers our lives.  Most of my work involves the creation of an idea, followed by sketches and the complex painting process of create and destroy, making the project last quite a while, sometimes a long long while, until resolution is reached....the point at which my personal sense of visual aesthetic is pleased.  But I try to sandwich light quick projects in-between...they take the edge off and fill my need for spontaneity.  While trimming a weeping cherry tree a few weeks ago, I was taken by the lush fruits that even this small tree was able to bring forth.  The work was painted from a clipped branch placed in view of my easel and worked on in, I believe, only two sessions, while I tried to capture its elegance before too much withering occurred.  I like it very much and feel that for a small work, it contains enough complexity to tease my intellect.  So be it.

Life really is just a chair of bowlies.

Free Time

Sheri   conte crayon and pastel on paper   18 x 14

One of the responsibilities in a cooperative gallery is, of course, gallery sitting.  My shift is usually a 5-hour period on Saturday afternoons.  While I have never in my life suffered from want of things to do....it seems that each day I have more to do than is humanly possible....and I realize, more than ever, that this is my choice.  Mostly I read, I sketch, I organize during this time slot.  A few weeks ago, I asked artists in my classes if they would mind sitting for a few hours at the gallery so that I could practice my portrait skills.  While I am mostly a figurative artist, where facial features defer to an overall gesture, it never hurts to hone these skills.  Likewise with painting flowers.  Sherri was a willing participant.  This portrait was rendered in conte crayon on a heavy watercolor paper.  After the session at the gallery, I used a photograph to work on the piece at home.  I liked the original very much at the end of the life session.  During the studio session at home, the work was fine-tuned.  A pastel block was added for color.  Always for me, the life work seems more honest, more energetic.  Fine tuning later enhances the likeness but, in doing so, renders the work more staid, more static, with the addition of more pigment.  Which do I prefer?  I really don't know......maybe a work somewhere in the middle would please me more.  Sherri was pleased.  What more can I ask for?

Bride...searching for the unconventional

Bride (J)   oil on canvas   48 x 24 x 1.5

J. is an unconventional bride.  We recently celebrated her marriage to a dear dear friend.  She has great spirit and a no-nonsense attitude about her.  I snapped a photo of her at her bridal shower.  This work is the result.  I guess it is a tribute to the unconventional in all of us.

Fright Week (month)

Shocking   mixed media on paper   34.5 x 22

"Shocking" is a mixed media work on paper that I enjoy so much during October, fright month for me.  For the past several years I have set up my own film festival at home during which I enjoy thrillers (especially the psychological ones), mysteries and a few flicks of the horror genre.  I am certainly old enough to recall films wound on large disks and stored in metal canisters...the kind we watched in school that would inevitably break, spin around incontrollably and cause interruptions in the story, chaos in the classroom and anxiety on the part of the instructor.  Those little sprocket holes on the edges of the film were the inspiration for this border design which was carved on a linoleum plate and printed onto the paper.  I shot photos of some family members and friends and had ever-so-much-fun arranging and drawing them on the paper.  One of my favorites is Cheryl, on the very bottom.  She was at that time our town postmistress. I am in the upper right with hands completely covering my eyes.  Too frightening to look.  Shocking.  Such fun.