Anyway, all three drawings are now transferred to the canvases, so the next thing I'll have to address is how to work the text elements ("Je suis beau" etc.) into the three compositions. I've already decided to limit one message per canvas, done in a variety of languages, type faces and sizes. I've used text before in my work (most recently in "Sorry, Wrong Number), but also in "Peace" in which I wrote the word "peace" in various languages, and the words formed a circle (to

DAILY PAINTING: "be-YOU-t-ful" 10-29-15 I'm transferring the drawings onto canvas, so this gives me a chance to describe part of the concept that we haven't discussed yet: we've talked about using marketing tactics against them, to show that their message is false. We've talked about using bright colors & distorted images, but there's more. Marketers bombard us with messages that say we have to look a certain way, buy their products to lose weight, make our hair less fr

A note on stick drawing (and no, I don't mean stick figures!): because the stick tapers at the end, it becomes more & more flexible. As you draw, the charcoal sometimes "catches" or gets a bit stuck on the paper & you can see the tip of the stick bend. Then it springs back & you get a "creative" line that you hadn't planned on, which adds to the spontaneity of the piece. Art is all about the balance between our intentions & the "happy accidents" that happen along the way.

Stick drawing: Oh my goodness! This was SO much harder than I remembered (and yes, I'm 30+ years older, too, I know!). My back does NOT like this at all. I've got to sit down. And I'm amazed at the concentration this required! My professor is having a good laugh in heaven, no doubt! This is my final effort (you should have see the 1st!). But there's so much more actual distortion in this than when I "tried" to draw a distorted image. The other drawing still retains fa

DAILY PAINTING: "be-YOU-t-ful" 10-27-15: You know that I'm working on drawing in a "distorted" way, and I remembered an exercise my drawing professor used in college. I was taught by a wonderful Italian woman (I wonder if she's still living?!). One day she asked us to go outside and find a stick. She didn't explain. At the university, the art complex shared wooded grounds with the architecture building next door, so we scrambled around & came back with sticks. She ha

The key to this sketch is its distortion, which I did on purpose. That was hard, when you've been trained all your life to draw as accurately as you can. I realized the other day, during my enforced PATIENT time, that the narrow, "cookie cutter" image of beauty-- put forward by the beauty, fashion & marketing industries--is false, DISTORTED. I want my painting to show that distortion to express the impact the media can have on how we perceive ourselves & others. The great

DAILY PAINTING: "be-YOU-t-ful" series 10-23-15--Alcohol inks are such fun! I love watching the painting change before my eyes! And I'm very pleased with today's results. Top right was the pink background, to which I have added straight up yellow as well as yellow green. Yellow green and pink are complimentary (meaning they are opposite to each other on the color wheel), which gives this painting a bit of sparkle that it otherwise would not have had (being sure to keep the

10-22-15: Today I began to paint the actual canvases. I'm using (3) 16 x 20" panels, and I have started the under- painting in three main background colors: pink, yellow, and orange, as see in the photos at right. I'm doing the underpainting in acrylic so that it will be dry tomorrow. For each of the main background colors, I have mixed warm and cool versions, as you can see. The paint has been applied rapidly, in quick strokes, with some flashes of the white ground of t

10-21-15: Today, we'll finish up the set of canvas panels that we started yesterday. You can see, in the photo at left, that I cut out the corners (be sure to angle your cuts just a bit as shown so that, once you fold the canvas of the panel as seen from the front). I coated the reverse side of the canvas with glue (be sure to spread it with a cheap, old brush). You can see in the photo at left that I always begin to fold on the long, right hand side. Press the fold from

DAILY PAINTING: Make your own canvas panels 10-20-15: Art is part of who I am, and I wouldn't want to do anything else; but art is not all fun and exciting. Sometimes you have to do fairly mundane things like make your own canvas panels, which is what I'm doing today. Artists are all about being frugal, so we not only stretch our own canvases (rather than buy ready made--have you seen the prices!), we also create hard-backed panels, which I like to use for studies. I thou