Prisma Color Infatuation...Pattern Love and Going Against the Grain...randomness, per usual!

...here's the report from 'stache central...I see many, many more moustaches in the forecast.  So silly, I know.

When I first started the series I was thinking of two things...one, I have following an artist that works on toned paper and I just got so excited it made me want to work with these materials myself.  Now, I am no stranger to toned paper...but I haven't really spent much time working with Prismacolor pencils and markers...so I am working on this right now...practice makes progress!  Sometimes I get distracted layering the marker, watching it soak into the paper and looking for those small lines, indications of one edge beginning and another ending...and then the colored pencils...so mesmerized by the choices in color and the amount of pigment contained in each pencil...then how smooth they blend...I might need a minute, folks.  Wow.

The second thing that I was thinking when I started this series was, well, including moustaches.  The first piece was a girl holding a 'stach on a stick, like you see in weddings photo booths..then I put the facial hair directly on the girls...then I let the moustache work it's way into the hairstyle....then I returned to my obsession with hair and allowed the moustache to be created by windswept hair.  Sometimes I have an idea where a series is going...often times I just decide each day with no plan.  I think that I would like to work with the idea of the moustache and other elements, such as the hairstyle, connecting...not sure.  Another thing that I thought about is gradually moving to some collage work with these images...so...anyways...here are the latest images that I added...I went full speed ahead with the color...yikes!

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CED13- 311-315, Works from November 7-11th

I did use the two images from the weekend as inspiration for the two large canvases that I bought before Maria's wedding.  I took some time this weekend to sketch directly onto the canvases with blue paint, and I even started to paint one of them.  I am staying pretty true to the original drawing with the composition and the colors at this point.  Updates to come on these two pieces.

Scenes from the studio corner...Mackie with the first large painting I started a little while back (He is SO ready for me to finish that one!)... another large painting, sketched out in blue acrylic on canvas, with guest appearance by Mackie, of course...another big ol' painting, sketched out...aannndd, that same painting later on Sunday night with the first layers of color...finally, Scooter, totally pooped. The funny thing is, I don't remember him helping me. In fact, I think he slept the whole time. I need new assistants, smh

I also played around with some marker paper this weekend, which I really liked for the markers.  I completed a few faces (of course!) and when I placed the work on our kitchen table I really like the way our new zebra placemat patterns were visible through the transparent paper.  It's kind of funny that happened because that was Saturday night, late, and the next day I was at Barnes and Noble and I read an article on Kehinde Wiley in Hi-Fructose Magazine...side note...I feel pretty good about my knowledge base of past artists and movements but when it comes to artists working right now- I need to learn more!  This is one thing I do when I go to Barnes and Noble now, I sit and read through various art magazines- so much to learn!

Okay, where was I? Oh yes...Kehinde Wiley.  WOW.  I literally had tears in my eyes looking at his images...not only for the realism in the figure, but the use of color and pattern...and seeing these everyday people displaced in these all-over patterned backgrounds, many were textile motifs...love.  It was love.  (cue, 'Is it Love' by White Snake, circa 1987)

And in a way it recalled my own experience with this semi-transparent marker paper, looking at the zebra print peeking back up through my drawing.  I think I might have to look into this idea...future series...?  Yeah, I think so.

(Top Row) Mini-series of ladies...just playing with Prismacolor markers and colored pencils on semi-transparent marker paper, really (Bottom Row) Same pieces, just sitting on top of our new zebra placemats...ummm...I kinda like'em.

The last thing that I wanted to mention was the AMAZING wood show at the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale. The show, entitled Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft and Design was a large collection of pieces ranging from fine-art furniture pieces to conceptual works and wall pieces.  I wish my father-in-law, Raffaele, was here in Florida...he would LOVE this show! Woodworking is his passion and I know that he would have been inspired by this collection of works.  So...I took many pictures, and I am posting them below...but these do NOT do justice to the experience of seeing these forms in the museum setting...if you are local, please- get yourself there to see this show!!

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http://www.moafl.org