My 2018 Holiday Muses

Brushwork, Projects Series, Seasonal Designs
A vibrant gouache painting which depicts three female muses in tribute to all arts

Arts Muses

The ability to imagine is a vital asset to us all. While not everyone uses this power for good, and then some very sadly don’t have access to its benefits, our imagination is the first step towards change and understanding and progress.

Generally speaking, I don’t share my personal woes with the virtual world. Yet, and with few exceptions, 2018 felt like one woeful day after another. Spring, Summer, and Fall seemed to simply pass me by… Like a year with nothing but a Winter of fear and discontent.

However, I am stubborn. No matter how bad things were, I remained committed each day in creating one thing or another. Such is the powerful force of art.

This year, now soon reaching to the next, I pay tribute to a variety of the Arts – by way of these muses. They are the graces of the written word, music & dance, and visual creations. Furthermore, they are also my saving graces.

As are all of you! Happy Holidays!!

 

Life Drawing: Mid-Century Style

Brushwork, Projects Series

One can never predict what sort of setting will be staged before entering the studio since I’ve joined this life drawing group. For last night’s session, our model Ashley was seated upon a truly far-out, vintage, mid-century chair – with its matching turquoise ottoman! After bringing my sketches home, I was compelled to add color to this particular one. Yet, with a light hand. [Yeah – imagine that!]

ashley-with-overlay

Ashley in Mid-Century

 

Harlequin

Projects Series

No one will identify über-model Karlie Kloss in this color pencil sketch – but then the same could be said in Tim Walker’s photograph of her, taken for a British Vogue fashion editorial back in 2010. That’s alright, as that wasn’t my aim.

And when I returned to using my own hand in my art, I hadn’t intended to focus a whole lot on mastering figure drawing. [Nor did I intend to use color pencils all that much!] Yet between this extraordinary pose and vibrant greens, I just couldn’t resist the challenge.

Colored pencil sketch of a Tim Walker photo depicting Karlie Kloss, who is dressed in ruffled green outfit and has her face painted as a harlequin.

Harlequin