10.31.08 - 61/365

so this is a first and a last

the first time i have ever done my watercolors in a car
(i almost always do them when i fly)

and the last of my october postings of drawn self portraits
i feel i have learned a lot from doing them
and i think i should continue
but i also think i need a bit of a change right now
so i am going to change it up for november

a bit of the road

10.30.08 - 60/365

so...
i've always had this problem;
having the drawing grow off the page,
at least
i finally found some color!!!

other choices i might have made . . .

from today | from yesterday

10.29.08 - 59/365

as i mentioned
when i began this life drawing thing
as my "october project"
drawing the figure
is really what i like best
when it comes to making representational work

(and of course,
drawing pears)

in some ways
i am a bit surprised
i didn't do more of it
but then again
maybe i'm not

10.28.08 - 58/365

2 as 1

legs & feet
feet & legs
some corners

1 as 2

10.27.08 - 57/365

can you stick out your tongue and touch your nose?

my first fgr submission: and i licked it

it seemed like a good idea at the time
but i really don't like drawing from a photo
even with the elaborate mirror/photobooth setup,
it's what i ended up doing

10.26.08 - 56/365

back row: canon s70
middle row: work journal, daily bread
front row: life(s) lesson(s), left handed, starting w/(a) line

hmmmmmmmmm...

from my garden: 3 tomatoes and a fig

10.25.08 - 55/365

metaphoric me

here but just barely....

today
i was even more tired than yesterday
if such a thing were possible
tired & sore
but relieved


the other one

10.24.08 - 54/365

after 10 hours of moving boxes and paintings
from storage
into the house & studio
i am exhausted
(that's why i am lying down)

lying down takes away
the lines and bags
and other signs of wear & tear
(that's why i am lying down)


but there is a bright side

the paintings are all in
with room for more to come

for the complete picture of what i am dealing with
you can visit welcome to my own private hell

10.23.08 - 53/365

i was hoping to make a real fashion-y illustration
(think early warhol)
but i had to rely on photoshop

i much prefer my distortion in camera

in motion
:D

tights courtesy of Red Lipstick
my fav boutique in brooklyn
thanks staceyjoy*

10.22.08 - 52/365

shadow self

one of those days


earlier
i wrapped my painting racks
to keep the dust out
i felt kind of like christo

in a christo state of mind

10.21.08 - 51/365

left by right | right by left


and now for something completely different

10.20.08 - 50/365

so
many
different
faces

but this is what i see

10.19.08 - 49/365

very
very
quiet
mood
today

10.18.08 - 48/365

today was a bit disorienting

other days...
not so

10.17.08 - 47/365

a pear in hand...

there is something about both pears and hands
that i find so expressive...

the moving version

ykes,
sorry for that awful sound quality, it's supposed to be elastica

10.16.08 - 46/365

my eyes are not blue

a little bit about concept today

as long as i was on this track
this could have been:
"don't it make my brown eyes blue"

or how about...

abstracted i

or even...

an eye for an eye

ça suffit!

10.15.08 - 45/365

today was the first day
in i don't know how long
that i spent the whole day
in the studio
this, inspite of the fact
that i had some
(still to be completed)
important
(and time sensitive)
work to do for the community

this is how it started:

10.14.08 - 44/365

i didn't notice until i was taking this picture
what smudge had done
she got a little territorial in the studio yesterday
i guess because i had a visitor
(and just when i thought she was becoming a bit more civilized)

so i revisited this again tonite
it's bringing me back

and i am not sure that i want that

10.13.08 - 43/365

paint it black

it's part of the process
sometimes
i just paint it all out
but i usually this doesn't happen with watercolor
usually it's with the oils...

there's a reason for all this

10.12.08 - 42/365

you know those days
when you don't like anything that you do?


well...
i'm having one



have i forgotten how to paint?
have i forgotten why i paint?
have i forgotten what i care about?
i remember the sadness
i remember the smells
(mmmmmmmmmmm)
i remember that this is what i do
and i am trying to remember
not to judge

10.11.08 - 41/365

i know...
it's silly
(but we love silly)
it's corny
(cheese | peace)
and it's contrived
(in order to get it right i had to paint solely from a flipped photo)
but moveon.org wanted a snap of everyone in their tee
(get yours)
so...



meanwhile
back at the ranch
important things are happening
we are jump started
in a big synchronized swim
and i couln't be more psyched

full story on neenna | in response

10.10.08 - 40/365

is this really a self portrait? *

I am so clearly lost, so lost that it finally dawned on me what i had to do to find myself...
it seems so obvious of course

* no, this is...

10.9.08 - 39/365

take a look in the mirror

scared of myself?

maybe...

been without a crappy cam for a while now
i think i am going to have to keep this one in vga mode
this is a little too...

a bit more like it...

and if i wasn't in the middle of this drawing thing

it would have been my post for today

10.8.08 - 38/365

look ma, no lines, :D
(well hardly any)

i was about to lose the mouth completely
so i just stopped
this is hard for me
but maybe not as hard as ending up with nothing


and the whole time
smudge is sitting on the steps
with the whole of her round little body
poised to get a bird


and she really looked like a pear

10.7.08 - 37/365

mornings can be rough

in actuality,
these journals are my version of the morning pages
which i did basically complete
(with the exception of all those artist "dates")
and then decided if i could spend an hour writing every day
i could certainly paint every day

but i do still write
and sometimes i jot down notes while i work

this morning i was thinking about how i started this project partially to get me back in the studio early, first thing in the morning
so that i could give the right time to my work
instead of cramming it in at the end of the day
when i am exhausted
but it is kind of tough to roll out of bed
and stare at yourself in the mirror for an hour
i don't know about you
but morning is not my moment.

and then i thought about the fact that it is hard enough to showcase one's lack of skill
but it's another to make yourself look like a freak a the same time

oh well
i KNEW this wasn't going to be easy

so here's what i was working from
because none of my drawings look even remotely like me
and
here's my little distraction



yes, i should go back to drawing them
:D

10.6.08 - 36/365

it's going to be a long month...
but i am learning,

i made this composite to see where i am going wrong
part of the problem is my use of watercolor,
being self taught,
as an abstract painter,
it's not such a big issue
but with figurative work
it really come into play
just one tiny flick of the brush
and i lose any semblance of a representation

and then there is the fact
that i have always used watercolor like oil
put it on
take it off
but paper is really too fragile for this
and with a portrait
i think that you rely more on transparency
and this (anti-)technique
just doesn't work

and then there is the issue of getting hung up on reality
which i am not very good with to begin with
for me this means getting stuck in representational minutiae
and the feel goes right out the window...

as i said
this is going to be a long month

(but the pears...
they are an abstraction to me
they do not require line
they do not require fidelity to the form
and
they smell sweet when they rot
long live the pear)