Strange Tales From My Little Black Book #10

From my Moleskine sketchbook, Strange Tale #10:

The Apparition that Instigated the (as yet unfounded) Order of Benevolent Handicrafters

Approximately 7 x 5 inches, pencil on paper. 

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And now, in anticipation of the transition from Winter into Spring, some photos of melting ice on shrubs and trees in my garden:

 

 

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Finally got my head out of the 12th Century and finished Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth (!) and I am currently reading, for the gazillionth time (but the first time with one of my children):  Lizard Music by Daniel Pinkwater

Currently listening to (trying to absorb):  Joanna Newsom's triple album magnum opus Have One On Me

Oh, and I am officially done with snow: goodbye and good riddance.

SOMA Artists for Haiti

I have not been too altruistic when it has come to donating artwork over the past year or so, but I have enthusiastically donated artwork to the SOMA Artists for Haiti (while only a drop in the bucket, every drop is so desperately needed).  The auction and event takes place this weekend ~ full details and links below:

SOMA Artists for Haiti

An event to raise money for vital healthcare in Haiti by utilizing South Orange & Maplewood arts.

As a global community, we have all been shaken by the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12th, 2010. Now is the time for Maplewood and South Orange to show our solidarity with the nation of Haiti and the Haitian Diaspora by utilizing one of our township's most distinctive qualities: the arts.

Please join us on Saturday, February 27th when local artists, musicians, performers and community members will gather at St. George's Church in Maplewood to raise funds for Partners In Health (PIH), an organization that has been working on the ground in Haiti for over 20 years to provide a preferential option for the poor in health care.

From 4-7pm, this event will consist of a silent art auction as well as family friendly performances & activities featuring Stories In Motion and Express Yourself Studios, followed by local musicians and performers who will take the stage From 7-11:30pm. Delicious food and beverages (non-alcoholic) will be for sale throughout the evening, and admission is a suggested donation of $10-20.

DATE | Saturday, February 27th

LOCATION | St. George's Church (MAP)

TIME | 4-7pm - silent art auction & family fun activities...

         7-11pm -  live performances

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This sketch (#7 from My Little Black Book) -  is up for auction, along with other artworks from quite a few of our curiously copius bevy of first-rate local artists.  Please drop by, donate to the event, and consider taking part in the silent auction.

(I have worked on this since the last post, adding india ink and more graphite to push the values and make the surface much richer).

Strange Tales From My Little Black Book #9

A new sketch from the Moleskine ~ pencil and india ink on paper, approximately 7 x 5 inches:

Oceans Of Lotion, But No Magic Potion

My husband's comment when he saw the above drawing was "you look like you are coming off of a 3-day meth binge in that sketch", so this little drawing has been unofficially retitled "the meth portrait".  He has quite a few amusing alternate titles for my work, my favorite being "one day I am gonna kill that man..."

The studio clean out is starting to wear me down, but it has been a long time coming and I am happy for the space (and, by golly, I found one of my missing circle templates, as well as a treasure trove of oddities...but more details on all of that when I am totally finished cleaning/organizing and get around to doing the blog post documenting The Great Studio Clean Out).

I have a lot of in-progress drawings in spite of the clean out going on in the studio, but nothing is finalized.  I am still working on the Conversations with Goya self-portrait series, but I had this irresistible impulse to do a new piece for the Exhibitor's Co-op's Cube and I show slated for March/April at the Gaelen Gallery East at the JCC in West Orange, NJ.

This new cube drawing started simply as a Moleskine sketch, but then I realized that I wanted to do a fully rendered drawing, so out came a fresh sheet of Arches paper.   This is a smaller drawing - 14 x 25 inches - so it should be done in a couple of weeks.  A little detail snapshot, grey and fuzzy, as usual:

As far as the first Goya self-portrait, the values have been totally reworked (thank you Barbara!!!), the drawing sprayed, and I am starting a subtle black-on-black lace mantilla background for the negative space.  I was wavering on the background for a week or so - I was originally going to do the lace in yellow gold or white gold leaf, or possibly a red glaze, but was not fully at ease with any of these ideas, and as serendipity would have it, while at the National Portrait Gallery a few weeks ago, I saw a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I in which the anonymous artist had rendered a totally gorgeous pattern on her dress using black-on-black:  this pattern was not at all visible from a distance or in the reproduction of the painting below. Only by the light in the room and directly in front or to the side of the painting is it really evident that the dress has a floral/print patterned black-on-black:

FYI:  This Elizabeth painting is one of a few done around the same time that are referred to as the Clopton portriats, all with generally the same pose (details if you click that link - the Queen was apparently aware of the importance of getting her image "out there" by the way, totally on a side note, I recommend a dual biography about her and Mary Queen of Scots called "Elizabeth and Mary" - a bit of an English slant on the relationship between the two, but enjoyable and, as usual, I digress, but I don't pass up the opportunity to mention a good book here or there).

So, black-on-black it is, and I have a few ways to pull this off, but some Goya contemplation comes first - contemplation on lace, the presence and visual weight of darkness, the magnificent Maja, and then the technical ways and means.

Truth be told, in the end this series of drawings will have everything and then absolutely nothing to do with Goya...

The second Goya self-portrait is started, too - and, thanks to The Great Studio Clean Out, I have all of the above drawings spread out in my newly spacious studio, I can get to all of my art books, and I can easily access that precious circle template...

Currently Reading:  Ken Follet:  Pillars of the Earth

An update...

Some news:  here is a nice little review of the Self Image show at the Arts Guild of New Jersey in Rahway.  The show is still open and runs through February 12th.

The Between Realities opening on January 22nd at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA was amazing - the work was beautiful, the gallery lovely, and it was a pleasure meeting everyone involved.  Here I am, beneath my drawings...and why yes, that is a red dot over my head!!!

A great D.C. weekend (thanks Madelyn and Butch! btw, now I am totally addicted to Trader Joe's Mediterranean hummus...).

Highlights (aside from the art show, of course):

Visited the memorial of my all-time favorite Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson:

A moment of awe, please:

We had a stop at one of Obama's favorite D.C. restaurants, Ben's Chili Bowl, home of the mighty chili half-smoke:

And then on to the National Portrait Gallery, where I had the opportunity to see the breathtaking exhibition of the  Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition exhibition finalists...oh my, oh my...the show runs until August 22, 2010 - a must see (as is most of the National Portrait Gallery, which is on my list for many more visits).

The Great Studio Clean Out is going strong, and I am busy cleaning, drawing, cleaning, drawing...and on and on...

Strange Tales From My Little Black Book #8

Well, technically this is from my medium~sized black book, the 8.5 x 12 inch folio Moleskine and not the 5 x 8 Moleskine, but I figure that one category is enough.

The drawing size is about 11 x 8, rendered with mechanical pencil:

Waiting for Leonora

Update:

Okay, so maybe it is my monitor or my eyes or both, but when the drawing is reduced to the scale as above it looks fuzzy to me...here are details, approximately to-scale on a normal monitor:

Ah, look at all of those messy and sketchy little lines... so much better...I don't like to look at a drawing without seeing the actual mark-making.