Pages

Monday, November 30, 2009

Illustration Friday: Entangled


Entangled. The word made me think of hair. Lots of hair. Lots of hair in a snarly mess. My hair in a snarly mess. Hair. Hairhairhair. So I began with hair.

I sketched a form with hair flowing up and beyond, snaking into the branches of a tree, and then I stopped. Too literal.

Flipped to another blank page and got lost. This hair was not entangled. It was flowing smooth, in a breeze, over an ocean. A lost thought. A memory. An entanglement in a romance lost in time.

And it was just a tiny sketch. But now I see it in color. And color it must be.

Another piece to a growing pile.
BUT!

Look at this, this could be entangled too!...

Trouble At Home
Ink on stained paper. 4"x6"

Detail. (I like this little dude.)

So this is my first official post for Illustration Friday. (Hi! I'm a newbie to this Friday thing.) But I actually created this second piece a few weeks ago for IF's unbalanced and never got a chance to post it (due to a stressful week with an extremely ill cat).

How fitting that something unbalanced can be entangled too.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Restless with sleepies.

Want to go to bed, but am really not so tired, yet restless enough that I know I could sleep.

Hmm, that didn't make much sense did it?

(WARNING: Dull paragraph ahead.) Figured I could at least post something since I haven't done so in a week. I'm terrible at it, I know. I have oodles of ideas for posts, and oodles of photos that I take throughout the week, and lots of little art things I work on, so one would think I could at least get a photo up on here. I do know what it is though that makes me not want to post, it's two things in particular. One: I worked for nine years, day in and day out, in front of a computer and honestly I really could care less about using one anymore. The only thing I can compare it to, for instance, is if one ate the same meal over and over everyday for that many years. I bet one would be sick of that meal (though, I guess, you'd still have to eat, and once you were released from the monotony you would have a variety of choices when it came to food, but a computer is a computer, it's not like the brand makes a difference.... well, you get the point. I'm rambling aren't I?). And two: I am a perfectionist, or rather liken myself to one, which becomes a problem when typing up a post, because once I type it up I end up rereading it, and editing it, and rereading it, and editing it, about, ohhh, five times, sometimes more, which ends up taking hours. Really. Hours. I'm lucky if I get it done under three. And then the photos! OH the PHOTOS! I usually take pics in crappy conditions - bad lighting, no flash (flash is evil! bad flash! bad!) so I spend another hour or so adjusting this or that in Photoshop, and well, it just takes a long time. (End dull paragraph.)


Well, now that I've babbled on about nothing in particular.... here's a photo of me in front of a Gary Baseman painting at the True Self exhibit at Jonathan LeVine Gallery, which was a group show curated by Baseman himself. Not much to say about it (the show) since I was not blown away by much of the artwork on display. Except for a small handful of exceptional pieces, the show fell flat for me. To state this here, means that I was more than a bit disappointed. Plus, the day of the opening was ooky with rain, and walking around NYC in a downpour really put the rotty cherry on the moldy cake. (Okay, maybe I'm making it sound worse than it was, but, oh nevermind...) The redemption that day was a stop at Max Brenner's Chocolate Emporium for some chocolatey goodness with my bud Jon. It was yummylicious good.

Alright! There were some wonderful things to see at the exhibit. Two favorites...

Gretchen Ryan's Self Portrait as a Different Girl

Dave Cooper's Jelly Dong

Oh wait... here's (another) photo of Gary Baseman and I! Now where did this come from? (Oh look, I think I can see up my nose! Way to use the zoom Jon! Hehe.)

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Finito!

India ink & acrylic ink with gold
details on tea stained paper 7.5" x 10"

I finished her. Last week. And then I didn't know what to name her, so I didn't. She was my mind's holiday flair. I don't like the word "holiday" - I'm not sure why. So let's say, she was inspired by the festivities to come in wintertime. Which makes me think of the winter solstice, and solstice trees, and absolutely nothing to do with the materialistic silliness that takes place in this country (among others). And then I thought, "Oooo, she's like an absinth fairy, but with feathery wings". (I'm not sure where I'm going with this thought process.)

I think this little piece was more about the composition than experimentation with color, and also line work. I enjoy playing with the lines, in this case in the wings and the lower part of the image.

Photo shot in low light to show gold detailing in
hair and dress (right below the elbow, see the little shimmers?)


Wing detail.

BTW - this post is dedicated to Aaron who told me today that I don't post enough finished work, and that I don't post enough in general. Thank you Aaron for being so observant. I promise to try and do better. (I think.)