Cay Denise

I had a recent opportunity to see the sisters' selected works of Jean-Michel Basquiat in an exhibit at The Grand in L.A. The exhibit was well-presented with a range of Jean-Michel's works, a re-creation of his studio and early family home environment, informative videos with interviews of some of the people who knew him -- all contributing some context about the artist's short life.   It didn't, however, speak to Jean-Michel's first foray into mark-making with a school friend doing graffiti works signed as Samo, the club-drug scene and how it influenced his life/work choices, the importance of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring to his intention of making it big in the art world (there were 4 Warhols in the exhibit), or even how or when he died.  I knew little more about Basquiat when I left than when I entered the exhibit.  That seemed a missed opportunity.  However, www.basquiat.com has a very good timeline about the artist's life that I recommend perusing before goi...

A friend and I did some stone painting recently.  Using acrylic paint, acrylic paint pens and permanent markers, we completed our pieces.  After they dried, a coat of varnish was added to protect them.  I love their shapes, how smooth they feel, and how fun they look! If you have painted stone, what other materials have you used successfully in creating your unique version of them?  

More sketches and finished images   What I find amazing is how shadow is so important in capturing contour, volume and depth of a shape.  Added to light with consistency in the light source, the shape of a face, a garment and even a hairdo --comes into greater realism and believability whether painted, pen and ink or even pencil. 

This is the first year I've seen the AWS Associate Members' works, and there are some superb pieces and such a variety.  Some don't look like they've been done with watercolor.  So, it is a remarkable exhibition and well worth the time to watch.  I highly recommend it!

Recently, I found a lovely image that I've since learned was created by Kay Neilsen, a Danish illustrator who also worked for Disney.  His work reminds me of more finely detailed imagery like that on old Vogue magazine covers.  So, I decided to fool around and give drawing it a try...never having done a horse before.  I'm delightfully surprised and like how the pen on paper came out.  Do you think color is needed?  I like the simplicity of it without color...at least right now.  You can tell she is moving along with the horse and there is some kind of celebration going on (parade, riding competition, etc.).  What kind of story does this type of image lend itself to--from your point of view?     

The 5-minute sketch suggests gender and hair length mainly.  The finished work took 1.5 hours mainly due to the hair.  It has a lot of lines that form the curves, curls, waviness, and volume.  It was actually more of an effort doing the hair than the face.  The latter I didn't spend that much time on.