Drawing a Conclusion

July 16, 2019 roxannebaldwin Leave a comment

My big mistake in “Broken Promise”, as it shall now be named, is that I forgot what I’m about. I draw. I get into a state of mindfulness, where’s there’s just me, the subject, and pencil and paper. Read my intro, is says that I love to draw, but enjoy color too, or some such wording. I need to get back into drawing, hardcore.

It doesn’t mean that there can’t be fun in the drawing. I go back over my stuck times, and I realize pushing the pencil, so to speak, will eventually get me out of the deepest funk.

The more complicated the drawing, the better.

Now that’s hardcore!

I Don’t Like It

July 16, 2019 roxannebaldwin 1 Comment

Phooey! Dammit, damn, damn and damn, again!

I really don’t like the way this turned out.

It was supposed to be carefree…..but to me, it looks sloppy and lazy. The piece of fecal matter I mentioned before. I really had wanted it to come out like this:

This:

Or even this!

Here I’ve done two tries on this drawing…both utter failures. I may make a do-over in the future, but not now.

I’m too frustrated.

And now I’m feeling insecure about choosing the next subject…will I have the drive, to do what I want?

Drive, get it?

Well, at least I kept my promise.

I Make Good on My Promises

July 15, 2019 roxannebaldwin Leave a comment

I finished the rose garden, but I plan on giving it a better name. My thought is it’s either a piece of genius, or a piece of fecal matter. My good friend assures me that it is neither, but she really likes it.

So, here you go! A drawing of a rose garden that my friend really likes. As for me? I’m a terrible judge of my just finished work, so I’ll have to get back to you on it.

Am I getting loose or am I getting sloppy? The last garden I drew in NYC, looked like this:

I’ll be damned if I know. I just know that if I try to draw something tightly again, it doesn’t seem to work.

Oh well, what next?

Blackout !

July 14, 2019 roxannebaldwin Leave a comment

“I’ve seen the lights go out on Broadway,

I’ve seen the Empire State laid low.” – Billy Joel

Right now, Rose Garden is going slowly. It’s through no fault of my own, but pet owners will understand. Pumpkin has taken up a new sleeping spot, right behind my easel. It’s a choice between letting Pumpkin sleep peacefully, or get artwork done. You can probably guess my priority.

So, I’ve been paying attention to the news. Along with Hurricane Barry, it seems that Manhattan has had another blackout. I’ve lived through a couple of those. Sure, there are big crises, there are also a lot of little crises. That’s part of living in a big city.

This is an ode to New Yorkers. They gang together during times of crisis, but most are not very friendly. I think it’s a matter of personal space. If I can’t have it in literal 3D dimensions, at least I can keep my emotions clear.

I can give examples of being pulled out of bad situations by strange New Yorkers, only to be met by gruffness afterwards.

So again begs the question ….did I do the right thing leaving NYC? I’ve come to the final conclusion, it just doesn’t matter. I am in Connecticut now, and unless I suddenly am flooded with wealth, I can go back to New York City. So, end of dilemma, I must make the most happy, successful life here.

So, here’s to old new beginnings:

A Rose by Any Other Name

July 13, 2019 roxannebaldwin Leave a comment

Still looks good in a picture with a cat.

Okay, enough about cats. Do I hear a collective sigh of relief?

I’ve been working on Rose Garden. I was working on the first version while tired and sick, and it came out awful. Put it away to look at later, maybe it would look better. No, after time, it still looks awful.

So, I’ve started a new one. I like it better than the first one, but it surprises me how it’s coming out. How can that happen? After all, I’m the one drawing it.

Drawing roses makes me start thinking about roses. Some flowers are beautiful, but have no scent. Some flowers, like honeysuckle, smell divine, but look like scraggly little waifs.

No so the rose. It’s both gorgeous to the eyes, and the olfactory organs.

Its strength amazes me. It grows and spreads easily, often crowding out other plants around it. Its thorns protect it.

They start blooming in the early summer and keep going through fall. In one case, on a fairly warm December 1, I found one blooming as if it were June.

So, though I love other flowers as well…….

Just give me a rose, dammit! Give me a rose.

I Promise You a Rose Garden

July 6, 2019 roxannebaldwin 2 Comments

Spoiler Alert! It will look something like this, but hopefully (there’s that word again, hopefully) much better. This, of course, is the preliminary sketch,

Speaking of roses, I just sent a batch of note cards to a long lost friend. This of course which I know I have posted before.

The detail and control I had in it, reminds me of the lyrics to the Bob Dylan song
“Oh, I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now”.

Only, how do you explain everything that has happened in your life for the past 30 years? Especially, the tries I’ve made to make a living in art…..some well thought out schemes, some absolutely useless ideas. Wow! Have I ever tried.

Commissions, portraits, merchandising, illustration…..and so on. The idea of making art a product.

I have come to the point, that I realize my life long ambition to be a rich, famous artist isn’t going to happen. So, I have returned to drawing what I feel drawn to drawing (yeah, you read that right). Thinking back on it, my own drawings are are what did me the most good in terms of money and ambition.

So, back to the drawing board I go.

Questionable Quandary

July 2, 2019 roxannebaldwin Leave a comment

Hurray for spell check! Otherwise, I would have misspelled quandary. Thank God for the blessings of our digital world. Some of those blessings I’m not so fond of, however.

But I digress. This blog is about art, not the information age.

So, now the quandary.

My latest drawing came out very well, in my opinion. Here it is:

As I drew it, I had this flash of inspiration…..or not. I kept envisioning the drawing as this above. Tendrils like roots surrounding like a frame.. I don’t know, did I see something like this somewhere? Am I unknowingly plagiarizing some artist’s work. Also, is it something my father would have called “artsy craftsy”, his cleaned up version of “artsy fartsy”? When I look at the small sketch I wonder if I like it better.

If I had taken this, and drawn the foliage completely on the rectangle, would that have been better? It’s what I envisioned originally, and gives the look of a miniature jungle. Truth is, I like them both, but only time will tell which I prefer.

So, a couple of years ago, I was griping about how boring drawing foliage is. No more! After the grey dark winter (and the grey dark spring), bring on those leaves! I will never complain about foliage, again.

The drawing that made me curse leaves and plants was this one.

So, I guess for a few months at least, plants and foliage is the trend. After all, plants and foliage is one of the reasons I left New York City for Connecticut.

So, what’s next? I take photos of ideas I have, and the idea for the next drawing reminds me of this:

After all, the grass is always greener in the next drawing.

Roxanne Baldwin's Artsy Blog