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)