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Well...my January 2016 series has come to a close...kind of. I may keep making some portraits, maybe not every day...but I have in my mind a number that I would like to complete- and maybe show. But first, some reflections on this body of work. RENDERING: One goal was to get back to working with pencil and drawing a little more realistically since I tend to favor a more stylized style when working with the face. And I did. Some of the pieces came out better than others, and I still want to push my darks so that is something that I will continue to work on. Overall, I feel like my style has a light touch, and I think I am okay with that but I know that including darker values will create a richer image with more depth. I intentionally left some of my 'underdrawing' visible...I think it shows the process of how the face came to appear from a blank white page, which is the most magical part to me of drawing and painting. QUOTES: I also wanted to work with quotes in this series. When I first started I would pair a random face I created with a quote that I liked. But a few pieces into the series I realized that I wanted to take it a step further and pair the quote with an actual portrait of the person who said the quote (or in some cases is associated with the quote) This also made the series a little more challenging because rather than just draw out of my head, I was working from photo references with the goal of creating a likeness of that person. MIXED-MEDIA: I added the watercolor washes to each piece to contrast with the gray scale of the rendering, and to make the faces stand out more. The watercolor features wet on wet, salt technique, spattering and paint drips to contrast with the tightness of the rendering. SUBJECT SELECTION: I selected women (mostly) that I admire for one reason or another. Many are relevant to music, there are some authors, artists, icons of fashion and popular culture humanitarianism. And yes, you're eyes aren't playing tricks on you- there ARE some men featured in the photo below. I chose to draw David Bowie when he passed to honor him, and his androgonous spirit that was not bound by male or female identitiy. (Then I did another portrait of him just because...not in the daily count...I wanted to remember him in one of my favorite roles, as Jereth the Goblin King in Labyrinth) I also included another piece I did not in the series, but in the same style- a portrait of Ric Flair and his daughter Charlotte that I gave to him in Miami. Also, not pictured, I am currently finishing up a commissioned piece for my cheer judge friend- Kent.  PURCHASE AND COMMISSION INFO: Yep, these are for sale- all of them (except for the piece from January 4th, the two David Bowie pieces,the Jackie O portrait and the Ric Flair Portrait...if your favorite original sold I am willing to recreate something similar, but not quite identical) I will be scanning some or all of these pieces to be available for purchase as prints and on gift items. I will create a blog post and social media campaign when get those images up. Also, I have had some inquiries about the originals, each original is prices at $120, which includes a white mat with protective plastic sleeve and shipping. If you are interested in commissioning me to create a portrait for you- custom images in this same style start at $150 and go up from there for larger images- additional faces in a portrait are $25 extra per face. For more information, you can email me directly at [email protected]. Thanks everyone for all the support while creating this series. It was definitely a tougher one for me to complete artistically, but it also awakened my deep love for drawing so I look forward to trying to complete that magical number of portraits I have set for myself...I hope to reveal that later this spring. In the meantime...my new series for February...I think I may head back to the land of big-eyed ladies...maybe they'll have wings...
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A while back, I made this little wedding dress...out of old issues of Art Hive Magazine....cut out into over a thousand little flower shapes and attached to an old petticoat and part of a recycled bridesmaid dress. I was just making it for for fun, and because I wanted to participate in the Fashion ARTillery event at the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach. So I worked on in, day and night. Cutting, gluing, attaching paper and bits of fabric to the understructure...then gluing gems and embellishments on top of that. It was one of the most time consuming projects I have ever undertaken to date. And it was worth every minute. Here is a timeline of 'the dress'.
 ...I literally spent ALL MORNING cleaning up and organizing in my studio. YAY! BEFORE...just...clutter...everywhere. I sorted everything...old art that needed to be put away...art materials...random stuff...yikes! It's been kinda making me feel overwhelmed...so I decided to do something about it!  AFTER...ahhhhhhh....yes. Clean space. Everything put away. Some fun, creative clutter still out to make me feel all inspired and stuff...but much better! "To be the man, you gotta beat the man!" Or in my case... "To MEET the man, you gotta DRAW the man."...and his daughter...both championship wrestlers. Or at least that's what I did.
In college it always seemed to be me hanging our with my boyfriend at the time (now my husband- Johnny Nice!) ...me...John...and his friends, crammed in someone's dorm room. I always seemed to be the only girl. Oh well. Monday Night Raw was kind of a standing date for all of us. We practiced the 'people's eyebrow' and quoted Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was kinda a thing. It was our thing. Heck...John and I were even Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth one Halloween, years later!  (Left) Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth, back in the day (Right) the Girondas...as the aforementioned couple, 2010. (We even ran into someone dressed like Hogan, don't worry, there was no drama)  ...so John and I made the trip to the Magic City Comic Con- our first time EVER at a Comic Con...and it was pretty fun! We saw had a chance to meet Ric Flair and sit in on a question and answer session. (Oh, and there were a ton of crazy-amazing cos-play folks, fun merchandise and tons of amazing comic artists...definitely want to go again) And I gave him- Ric Flair- the Stylin', profilin', limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin' n' dealin' son of a gun...yeah, HIM...I gave him my drawing. He asked who drew it and I felt so proud to tell him that I did- and that I drew it last night...and it was the original- and it was his. 
...series still developing...coming along...still working on my rendering skills and sight drawing skills ('cause I am too hardheaded and lazy and just plain old fashioned to use a grid)...this ain't in order...but here is some of what I have been up to...  Work from Jan 9, 12 and 10th. But this week...something awful happened. Something sad. Something that I had no idea I would feel so deeply. David Bowie died. He was a true artist, giving permission to let your weirdness shine to so many (including me!) So many good songs...iconic photographs...FASHION...performance...and don't get me started on Labyrinth- one of my all-time favorite movies. Just...thanks. Thanks for all of that beauty. And...so...I made some art. I know the series is called 'Girl Talk'...but hey, he crossed that gender line, was male, female- he was androgynous, he was beautiful. So I paid tribute one of his quotes (middle pic) and then to my favorite movie, by depicting him as Jareth the Goblin King and Sarah Williams, a gal just trying to get rid of her pesky lil' brother...until she does. That's all. Shine on, Star Man.  Two tribute pieces from Jan 11, and another from Jan 12 |
AuthorArtist and Art Teacher 
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