slither

Prompt: "e" ecstacy

Artist: William Spencer III

So I had an old monotype--we were given the suggestion of working into an old monotype to complete this assignment--and I used the pattern of paint and paper to create a snake.

I took the 'e' to create patterns of pills and the stick figure--I'll call him Frank--Frank in the corner of some deserted alley thinking about drugs, etc.

The patterns and the ribbon look associated with the snake was in relation to Spencer's work.

equpiment

Prompt: wrinkle

Artist: Dali

IF: equipment

So I went for the first thing I could think of when dealing with equipment--computers.  My dad was printing off a lot of things for his trip with my sister for the next day and the printer was making a whole mess of weird noises.  Anyone who has dealt with a computer has known the overwhelming desire to smash anything that doesn't cooperate with you.

Originally, I just wanted wrinkled paper to come out of the printer.  I somehow wanted things to melt in a Dali-eqsue fashion but I didn't have the patience to figure it out.

But the smashing of the printer made me think Stephen King's The Shining and the smashing of the CB because Jackhadlosthismarbles.  His brain was messed up--wrinkled.  So I left the key to the second floor alongside the printer as well.

Don't you just love Denver croquet?

Love means never having to say you're sober. 

-JackTorrance (Stephen King's The Shining)

fearless

Prompt: pain/suffering/Gladiator

Artist: Beirstadt

So I took a 'fearless' step and would not allow myself to use brushes.  So I used cardboard chunks and my fingers.

Oh, and it takes a pretty fearless human being to travel into outer space.

But to highlight pain and suffering, just imagine the world if we don't take care of it.  And the sun, it burns so that has some agony right there.

cocoon

Prompt: lyrical

Artist: Degas

I almost had no motivation to do this.  And I really wanted the IF to be 'ballerina' or something.

So to make up for my loss, I decided to relate ballet to cocoon.  I saw a friend perform in actual pointe shoes and how difficult it was.  I also occasionally hit up the dance supply sites looking at merchandising.  Pointe shoes offer toe cushioning such as a rubber pad to protect your toes.

Whatever the accessory, it takes a lot of strength and power to be able to perform ballet.  Your toes go through conditioning and torture to be able to balance like that.

So I thought of the shoe and ribbon as a cocoon for the toes and ankle.  The end.

ahead

Class prompt: 'zombie'

Artist inspiration: 'Picasso'

IF: ahead.

SO.  I heard a couple things about storms this weekend and all I could think about were hurricanes.  Ships can be ahead of the storm so I incorporated a ship being out of the way of the two storms colliding.

To reference zombies, the face is dull and the eyes are lifeless.

To reference Picasso, I figured the only way to make this remotely work would be to make a face in the form of Picasso--not really a face.

I always do realistic things so I went for a more comic book approach.

"Down the road, little girl

You may lose your way
All alone in a world 
That may seem too wide
But sit on Mama's lap
And I will draw a map
And whatever 
You need 
Mama will 
Provide "

--Mama Will Provide from'Once OnThisIsland'

detective

Once again, a prompt--Bubbles. Edvard Munch was the artist. I didn't like Munch's style so I didn't let that influence my sketch--besides, it's not what I had in mind.

So to tie in with detective, classic Sherlock Holmes application. Bubbles coming out of the pipe like Bart Simpson would have in his pipe...

Passing on a love at first sight.

www.eyecreate.com

I caught her "linked" illustration on the IF site and had a mini-heart attack and wanted to fall over in my chair. Alice in Wonderland strikes again!

linked

So we were supposed to think about forks all week and so I did.  I thought about an actual fork in the road and the prongs would be each different break in the road.  But the then IFri was posted as 'linked' so all my ideas went out the window.

Then I was doing a lot of cooking/baking over the weekend and thought of Italian food and spaghetti and meatballs.  I thought that every time that the fork swirls the spaghetti and pierces the meatball, the food and fork are linked together.  (And the entire composition was supposed to be made of forks) SOOOO I made the spaghetti hairs dinky forks.

"Is it progress if a cannibal uses a knife and fork?"

--Stanislaw Lee

dip

Weather was once again gorgeous outside.

When I finally got around to sketching, I wondered how exactly to draw 'dip' the way I was thinking about it all weekend. Beautiful woman sticking her toe into a still pond...

I was sitting outside in shorts again. My left leg was extended so I turned my sketchbook upside down and started a contour of my leg.

“I believe I will dip my pink-and-white body in yon Roman tub. I feel a bit gritty after the affairs of the day.”

--W.C. Fields

rescue

Sometimes we just want to escape the real world.  Just leave it to refresh our perspective on life.  Many of us don't know how to step back and just live in misery.  So for those people, they just need a little help.  Wonderland needs to drop in and just dig a little rabbit hole for a white rabbit to lead us into.

Until that day comes, I'll cry or try to make my own white rabbit to follow.  I need a white knight to rescue me and give me a good shake to wake me up from this nightmare.

By the way, the board in the sketch said, "Test Today!!" and the bandersnatch didn't like that so he attacked the board and saved the students.

Just plugging someone else...

I love bloggers like this chica right here:

http://www.frenchtoastgirl.com/thoughts/cardancing.shtml

I would've commented if I didn't have to become a member of another website and all that jazz.
I'm so glad that she car dances too. I do it all the time. I blast my music every time I get in my car.
Oh, and I love French Toast.
Oh, and she's a pretty good artist too. (Loved her IF expired)

All of me...

Hey look, it's me! This is our prep for an oil/mixed media work about 3x the size it is now.

I completely ignored the highlights in my glasses because to me, it's just a pain in my artsy butt.

I hate electronic pencil sharpeners, by the way. Broke the led to my darkest pencil more times than I counted and basically ate it. I think all pencils should remain sharp forever. No one would ever have to sharpen another pencil again and we would not lose good money to a hungry pencil sharpener. Just sayin'.

Don't call the world dirty because you forgot to clean your glasses.
-Aaron Hill

expired

In light of the epic snow storms that we received the past few months, it seemed appropriate to say that the winter had finally expired itself to welcome Spring of 2010 when I started this. The sun was shining and I was able to sleep in...

I literally, Saturday morning, woke up, changed out of my pjs into shorts, a light top and threw on some sunglasses and sat outside with my iHome and worked.

(which, by the way, the weekend was BEAUTIFUL and I spent several hours outside on Saturday--totally hippie--and got a little less pale... which was unintended)

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"
~Robin Williams

subterranean

I couldn't figure out how to draw a hole in the ground so instead I focused on the creatures that dwell in those holes.

Meerkats. Timon and Pumbaa. The cute little things that are prairie dogs of the wild.

What also got me to sketch this was the idea that taking the definition of the word and putting it onto paper gets downright boring after a while. So you take it a step further and go to things that relate to the definition. Or in this case are but aren't the definition.

And I have to tell you, I wanted to watch The Lion King the moment I started drawing a meerkat just to hear the voice of Nathan Lane in the body of an animal. Got to love the humor that comes out of that man.

"That's not a king. That's a fuzzy maraca!"

--Timon (The Lion King II: Simba's Pride)

AngryWatercolor...

Ah, a piece that I loathed for a good while.

Started out with a figure contour using Sharpie with a RoundRobin idea with everyone. The figures that you see were four of about nine. The others are hidden under layers of gouache and gesso. And some are revived using india ink.

But this is a combination of the ink, watercolor, acrylic/gouache, gesso... I think that's it.

I splattered watercolor all over this thing. That red face on the bottom I just got mad at one day and just attacked it with splatters of stuff. I wanted to kill it... teehee. Irony? That's my face.

“There's no excuse to be bored. Sad, yes. Angry, yes. Depressed, yes. Crazy, yes. But there's no excuse for boredom, ever.”

--Viggo Mortensen

I was never bored... merely frustrated and at a loss at how to keep working this surface.

Charcoal, anyone?

Subtractive charcoal and watercolor antiquing.

Rule of thirds.

Drapery and figure study...

...then the brick wall in the back.

Just like everyone else, I started outlining the figure rather than focusing on lights and darks. Eventually I got the hang of the whole 'control the eraser' and this was the result.

two things:

1. I missed the black box as a classroom setting. I prefer high ceilings, open space and fantabulous sound systems to work in.

2. I learned how much effort it takes to maintain a pose for over an hour. All hail figure study models.

"I hate flowers. I only paint them because they're cheaper than models and they don't move."

--Georgia O'Keeffe

brave

heads up! the sketch is a bit messy because I scanned using the class equipment. 'Tis a bit on the smudged side. I need to start scanning at home...

So with Alice on the brain, I couldn't help but think that Alice is such a 'brave' character. To face the Queen of Hearts with such a sharp tongue, to me, is just so daring.

The creepy factor in the new movie--which I have yet to see--and the script for the stage play that I'm currently rehearsing for is just mind-boggling.

(You'll be seeing many references to the Queen of Hearts for the next couple months because that's my character.)

explanation: Alice is in the center of all this madness with the Queen and the Mad Hatter.

"Oh, pooh. I'm not afraid of you. Why, you're nothing but a pack of cards."

--Alice (Alice in Wonderland--1951)

SkeletonStudy

We did this series of skeleton studying (whatever you would like to call it) last week on Wednesday. We sat in a circle around a skeleton and rotated every few minutes with a new angle.

The bottom sketch was actually the first and second rotation. The middle was the third and fourth rotation.

And the far left was the last two rotations focusing on negative space and not the actual bone itself.

perspective

perspective |pərˈspektiv|
noun
2 a perspective of the whole valley view, vista, panorama, prospect, bird's-eye view, outlook, aspect.

Perspective using perspective! C'est simple, non?

A lot of what happened with the weekend included what was viewed as correct or 'pretty'. Whatever feels right or looks good is all a matter or perspective. It's the person behind the telescope/magnifying glass that is analyzing and has their own opinion.

"Your way? All ways here are my ways..."

--Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland--1951)

propagate

So trying to stray from the idea of 'sex' once the word propagate is said, this is what I came up with.

I was trying to go with the morphing idea that a seed is planted, it is babied in the earth and roots go into the ground and the flower grows, blah blah blah and yada yada yada.

"Anddddddd tree."

adrift

And so the little duckling strayed from the brood to wander the world behind...











I figured this was easier than trying to show an artist struggling to find inspiration.
But simple symbolism can be applied here. The brood is a collection of various high school seniors...

The ones heading towards the right are off to college in cookie-cutter fashion, "Oh, I applied to a bagillion different schools and scholarships and I'm on my way to be god-knows-what..."

The lone duckling on the left represents the senior headed into the work force. This one has the mindset, "I'm not going to bury myself in debt for a degree I don't even think I'll ever use AND just start attacking my dreams that much faster..." This senior can be seen as a free-spirit or go-getter to some and an almost pathetic dreamer to others.

“Life is either a daring adventure, or it is nothing.”
~ Helen Keller

muddy

Remember this face... he will be famous one day.

IFri (2.5.10)--theme: figure

I had no chance whatsoever to sketch a still and interesting subject for 'muddy' this weekend so I reverted to old photos. This one caught my eye.

I was shooting pictures with Howard (FigNewton's camera) and shot this crisp image of my friend Boy that was almost god-like. Any other face was blurred out and Boy was the focus. I was up until 4:30 this morning sketching. I was on a roll and I could not stop until I could step away and recognize one of my closest friends on the paper.

explanation time!
Why call this, 'muddy'? What's the meaning?
Well, boys and girls, I have two main reasons and many itty bitty reasons that I haven't quite finalized yet.

1) "His face... look at his face..." What is he thinking? Could be love, surprise, waiting for something, or no real feeling behind it at all. Could be anything, right? His expression is muddy and you can't quite decide what he's thinking.

2) "Look around you..." The faces are barely there. Just basic outlines. It's a muddy surrounding to a crisp focus.

"I got a feelin', that tonight's gonna be a good, good night..."

Three's company.

Triptych series beginnings...

Using the element of line to display a principle of art.

1. Rhythm 2. Balance 3. Movement

Abstract is not my forte, nor is it my favorite.

But this is what happens when I'm given oak-tag, gouache and india ink.

focused

IFri (1.29.10)
All I could think about were the rehearsals I had this weekend. Dancing for hours on a crash course (coming in several weeks late) and it was all about form, counts and positioning. This was my focus.

Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch. AGAIN!

clumsy

"I've got the world on a string..."
Hardly.

IFri (1.22.10): clumsy.

Seeing as how I forgot about the creation of Earth and Pangaea and all that jazz... this probably should not be interpreted as Creation but rather natural disasters.

"I'm all shook up! Uh-huh..."

Earthquakes and so on.

Haiti. Have you done your part?

Ancient History I

Missing since August 5, 2007

I'll always favor this piece. Although, in retrospect, it looks nothing like James Dean.

'twas stolen after the final production of Grease.