

There is an allure to painting the relatives and friends I never had. They are ciphers for relationships I never had, experiences I never had. I was getting my car fixed Thursday and I pulled out some of the drawings and the source material and started working on them. The woman next to me in the waiting room became fascinated with the process of translating these Victorian and 1940s and 1950s era women into drawings. She invented pasts for them, asked questions of their background, scrutinized each photo looking for place, names, handwriting clues, etc. It was really fascinating to watch. I wanted to make sure I also had a grip on the recent past, so some of my borrowed imagery is now making an appearance. These ladies are awkward in the most endearing ways, wether they are posing over 80 years ago or in a 1990s high school year book. Not June Cleaver or some starlet, I feel at home relinquishing my control of the image to these women.

Straight from my notebooks, two of my favorite model drawings from the last two weeks. We have been having WONDERFUL models at my drawing group, I don't know if I'm doing the models justice really, but they may make an appearance in my paintings by virtue of their talent and poise. Have a good Thursday everybody! Oh, and if I missed you on my new blog list, shoot me an email or a comment so I can add you, I'm oh-so-absent-minded these days! Oh, and sorry about the cropping, my scanner makes things blue at the edges so unfortunately I will be cutting off feet and hands and such!!!
Something I'm tooling around with at home because of the heat. (I LOVE air conditioning!) I have been neglecting everything else in favor of drawing, a weakness I suppose, but one I need. To those I haven't contacted, I'm sorry, I'll be in contact soon. Just got to finish a few underdrawings like this one. I've just got to work out my nymph and satyr in the forest / Vargas girl thing and then I'll be back in touch. Everything falls out of place when the studio work is foundering, I feel like I'm beginning to find my way and that is a gift.