Digging Up the Past...In My Garage

Moving things around in the garage, I came across some old college-era drawings, paintings, and prints that I kept. It was funny to go back and look at these things that have rarely seen the light of day since the early 90’s.

It’s especially funny since I’m a completely different person now than I was then, and the imagery I gravitated towards oozed with my youth. With titles like “Angel of Suicide” …What? All that’s missing is my “Question Authority” bumper sticker.

I knew that I wanted to make some kind of statement, but I don’t think I ever knew what that statement was. I just knew what imagery fit the bill - or formula - for cutting edge, music saturated L.A./Long Beach California. But really, it’s very similar to a lot of other statements that you see even among today’s emerging young artists that I see online. And, we thought we were being so avant garde. I just knew that I DIDN’T want to “illustrate” as that was a bad word in the fine arts department. Oh, silly me.

What I do see that is worth anything is the interest in detail, linework, and texture that are a big part of my current work. I just think I took a pretty round-about way of getting here.

I remember that 3-D box face that I had on my wall, the mannequin head with the Mickey Mouse ears, the gas mask…I just can’t for the life of me figure out which apartment that was (I moved several times during my college years).

A Shout Out to Earth Day

Well, here's a little something in reference to Earth Day. It's nothing spectacular. What is spectacular is that I found a moment to do not one BUT TWO quick studies today. This one I squeaked out while waiting in the car with my sleeping baby while my other girls were in a fabric store with their girls group. The other is something I'm going to be using in my next Hubpages article.

Anyway, I'm trying to keep drawing - even if it's just a little bit.

Time sure goes by quickly these days! The end of the school year is closing in so we’re trying to keep on track, although spring fever is hitting us all pretty hard.

I have a confession to make…I have been cheating on this blog. That’s right. It all started so innocently. I was browsing the want ads in our local paper, and that’s when I saw it. It was an ad for an opportunity to write at home and - just maybe - earn a few dollars. Well, since I am currently unemployed and I enjoy writing, I guess I caved to the temptation.

So, I’ve been writing a few articles at HubPages to try to supplement the income…of course, it really takes time to build up any change. I’ll probably only make a dime in the end and won‘t see a cent for years…but it’s been fun.

In the course of my recent writing, I started browsing the works of a few still life artists that I like. One of them is 20^th Century artist Giorgio Morandi. I first encountered his work in college, but I don’t think I was as impressed then - it was my vibrant German Expressionism phase. Morandi’s work was completely opposite of my interests at the time, but I really appreciate it now.

Perhaps in my hectic and noisy life, his still lifes are a quiet and uncluttered refuge. I like the neutral tones of his paintings and the minimal details which are so contrary to my own style. The linework on his drawings adds life - a very nice balance to what would otherwise be considered bland compositions.

Another artist whose still life work I enjoy is Wayne Thiebault. Again, I am drawn to him for his difference from my own style. I always liked the thick application of paint and his colors (or maybe I'm just hungry). I’ve always wondered how painters who work so thick financed all of that paint (at least as a student)! In college, I always worked small and thin since I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to buy more paint when I needed it.

Well, I don't post other people's work that often. My plate is pretty full at the moment (and not with cake and ice cream). Summer's coming - things will change to some degree...although my toddler is getting clingy and busy busy busy!

Found the Colored Pencils

Easter Vaction and I finally dug through a couple boxes for my colored pencils.

These guys were a quick 2 minute doodle done a while back that I added some color to.

I doodled the picture on the left first and had no plans to do anything else. However, I do need to do some studies that show one particular character in different moods or actions. This isn't for the portfolio or anything, but it's good practice. I wanted to make sure I could recreate the same character from a different angle. I think I duplicated her shape and features well enough. But, I need to take a look at some other artists and see how they handle hair in this medium. I'm not a big fan of how I did it here.

Illustration Friday: "Dip"

I guess it's time to resurrect this from a few years back as I think it's a nice fit for the theme. After all, this is the week for resurrections :)

This was a drawing loosely based on my 2nd youngest daughter - while visiting the water slides at Lake Lopez, she put on every floatation device she could find (including a life jacket - not shown here). She was only in the "kiddy" pool and the life guards laughed - they certainly wouldn't need to rescue her.