Bear and Bird piece...in progress....

...so I started my piece for the Bear and Bird show.  A little background, in case it was never previously mentioned…my new art friend Jessica told me about this cool gallery/comic store down in Fort Lauderdale, and that they were always having cool thematic shows.  She also let me know about a show that they are having, a Horror Movie-themed show titled ‘Creep Cinema’…perfectly-timed for Halloween, and for me to get something ready.  Inspired by my new friend, I verbally committed to creating a piece for this show.  And I am doing it, I am making something.  (yay!) I wouldn’t say that this is my particular genre, but I like to work with the figure so that is pretty easy to interpret across different styles and themes.  In my head I was doing a victory lap, having finished my thirtieth drawing…what could I bring from those thirty trees to this new project? 

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So for starters… gotta pick a movie.  Now, something not everyone knows about me- I used to really love horror movies.  Love.  I think I was more into the horror movies when I was a kid.  I also love Stephen King.  I had read just about everything he did up til the Gunslinger series.  I don’t know if it was just because I had to do more reading for my classes, or what, but for whatever reason I put down my Stephen King books probably about junior year in high school.  I even went as far as to pass them on.  Different Seasons, It, The Stand, Salem’s Lot, I could go on and on.  Loved his books.  When I was looking for a movie image for this project I didn’t even think about any of the new horror movies, I think maybe that is why I had lost interest in the genre, the new movies can be really gory, and that isn’t my thing.  So I revisited my childhood friend, Stephen King.  Just googling his name brought all of the characters together, reminding me of the stories and images that kept me up at night.  The image of Drew Barrymore from Firestarter immediately caught my attention, the warm colors from the photograph, and the movement of the hair.  And after a little deliberation, which always involves cornering my husband and asking him to help me decide, hoping that he will choose the one that I wanted in the first place…a decision was made… Firestarter.

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...I have had that round canvas for a while now.  Found it on clearance at Michaels, bought it and stashed it away for...a rainy day.  (Coincidently, it was rainy today.  How apropos.) Over the course of a few hours I sketched out the image, started filling in the background colors, painted the facial features and then started working with the lines in the hair.  One thing that I noted while I was working was that I always start drawing the left eye first.  Every time, not sure why.  I struggled with getting the eyes symmetrical, and with getting the right amount of white showing to make her look like she was looking straight on.  Another issue I had (and I am still resolving) is making the face look like a child, not an adult.  That is always a tough one.  I am still working on the face, might need to rework the mouth.  When I put down my brushes I was working on the hair, which I will pick back up on tomorrow or the next day.  The circular format of the canvas worked well for this image, I feel like it worked with the curvilinear lines of the hair and also fit the size requirements set by the gallery.  So all in all, off to a good start but not resolved. (see in-progress pics below)

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