It started with a talk about Don Hertzfeldt, whom I admire, leading into a conversation about animation and the one about unicorns and narwhals. I like sea creatures. I remember my first drawing class in high school, my series was of sea creatures, color pencil on paper. I feel like I am revisiting that strain with acrylics. Quick sketches really.
Before the party on Saturday, I finished these as well… got a little tired of the theme, as seen in the lion photo, very lazy strokes, gave up on my reference photo half way in. That’s actually Helena Bonham Carter from Sweeny Todd… ran out of Addamses that I liked.
More portraits. With the light on black approach, too much color makes it look like a matador felt painting. Not a bad aesthetic, but takes a little gloom out of the picture.
Lia’s Birthday present. She requested a painting of a boat. I had never given her art before, so I thought I would do something very normal and lovely. We’re from Hawaii, so I feel like Hawaii landscapes never fail when it comes to family gifts. I was very fortunate to have a darkly painted canvas lying around. Light on dark is one of my favorite (if not favorite approaches) to making pictures. It has a good depth at the end of it. I used a reference photo of Maui, I was going to get really detailed, but at the end of it, I used one brush and didn’t rinse it out. It was nice to just pile the paint on there and let some of the black background show through. I enjoy working on presents the day of the occasion. It makes it seem really personal. When I do a painting for someone, I think of them, so to think of the person on his or her day makes the painting special for me, too.
I’m preparing decor for next weekends parties, the theme being the Addams Family. Dark and gloomy and references.
Another self-portrait. It’s definitely a phase. I haven’t been really inspired by other people. They’re sometimes disappointing. It’s Kahlo-esque to paint surreal portraits like these that really convey a certain mood. Today I was feeling really tired. I wanted to paint a portait with my new scissors I bought at a recent craft fair, so here they are. Also, I purchased buttons, some of which are seen here. It would be cute to make paintings to remember the things I bought. Such artsy laborous receipts.
I don’t know what happened here. I was perfectly sober in every sense of the word. I just really wanted to paint something. I used to draw these cute bunnies with sayings coming out of their mouths like ribbons. Note: it does not translate to my style of painting at all. This rabbit is saying “words are stepping stones for thought.” A Koestler quote, sort of. I painted over it today. I painted the picture Sunday, but I had no desire to share it with the world until I did something better to prove that I wasn’t losing my mind. I like the background, though.
Today at the Urban Craft Fair, I found a lovely booth that sold supplies like pipettes, syringes and tin canisters. I bought a film tin to put my collage paper in. I’ve been reading a couple of books on collage and the right wall hanging at Value Village presented me with just the extra pushes to do a collage. I want to branch out from just acrylic on canvas, branch out from painting. This collage is kind of simple, but I’m planning on using it in later designs. This one is incorporating a picture from Charlotte’s 5:55 album art and a quote by Margaret Atwood from her book, The Handmaiden’s Tale, which I am currently reading. The quote is incomplete, but it would say, had I had fit it all in: It’s those other escapes, the ones you open in yourself, given a cutting edge. I like reinterpreting it to mean creativity can be tapped into, given the right spark. I like this. Copyright is fair. I respect these wonderful people’s works of arts and want them around to be further inspired by.
