Tag Archives: Black Madonna

It’s a Secret

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I bet you’ve been wondering why I haven’t been posting.  Well, no, not really, I expect you all have lives other than reading my blog.  But the truth is I haven’t posted for a while…and there’s a good reason.  I’m working on a drawing, but it’s a secret.

Why keep it a secret?  In some cases, I suppose, fears of plagiarism, thinking someone might steal your incredible idea and come out with a work, first.  Or maybe, it’s a work that so stupendous, you don’t want to lessen the “Wow” factor when it’s done.  Or maybe it’s a gift for someone who reads this very blog.  Yeah, it’s the latter.

So, in the meantime, I’ve got my show up at the restaurant “The Opendoor” in Long Island City, Queens, NY.  Also, a drawing of mine has been accepted into a juried show, “Woman Up”, organized in celebration of Women’s History Month.  My contribution, if you haven’t already seen it on this blog is “Black Madonna”.

 

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Black Madonna…the finish

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If you’ve already done the hard work on a drawing, the rest goes fast. Plus, I was truly inspired doing this, so I spent more of my time on it.

As I worked in it, I decided to use metallic pencil. That’s something I normally don’t do, because I always envisioned selling my work as prints. But as I did it in this, I decided to make the picture more like a medieval icon. I made her robe the blue of lapis lazuli, for instance.

I’m very pleased with this. Soon, I will be entering a juried competition, and although it costs money (something I rarely do, unless it’s free), I will be entering “Black Madonna”. I feel I have a good chance at this show, I’m familiar with the people jurying it, and they have seemed to like my work in the past.blkmdnnafinish

Royalty….at last

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First a note about Scraggly Weed. As I was looking out my window, I noticed another artist was attracted to the plant on which my drawing is based. This time, a photographer, with a zoom lens, taking a close up of one of the fronds. Don’t know if he managed to capture a butterfly. Anyway, I think returning to Scraggly Weed in the winter, when summer memories are cherished, will be a good idea.

So, here’s the progress on Black Madonna. Decided to give her royal robes, but I’m thinking of ways to make them into a more interesting design.

I also aged her a bit for two reasons…..one, the woman in my dreams was older than this woman. The other, I’m trying to make the portrait look even less like the woman it doesn’t look like. blkmdnna1

Good night, Scraggly Weed

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I’ve put aside Scraggly Weed for a while to be revisited. I got carried away, and the reference to Audrey II is accurate. It ended up looking like a demonic, carnivorous Christmas tree, and nothing scraggly about it. Maybe in the depths of winter I will revisit it, when I can be more objective about it.

Another thought about a slight incident that happened at Soundview Park. An adult man, maybe about 30, came looking for the free arts and crafts to do. What was there was aimed at children…the man was disappointed.

It occurred to me, that for many populations we provide the means of creative expression…children, mental health patients, senior citizens. However, if you’re not a person who is part of the needy, you’re flat out of luck when it comes to something so fufilling as creating art. Art supplies and lessons are expensive.

I was very lucky having come from a home where art was part of day to day life. I had the materials provided to me. And since I have no children, I had no other responsibilities for my money other than my own upkeep.

So, back to the man. Don’t really know much about him, but I thought about pulling him away quietly, and giving him a drawing lesson. I was too timid to do it.

It occurs to me that being able to do art enriches everyone’s life, so if I can figure out a way to do free art lessons to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to get them? It’s in the back of my mind, for a project in the future.

As for my own art, now that Scraggly Weed is in suspended animation, that I go back to an old idea of mine. The background:

I used to have dreams about a sort of guardian angel who is a middle-aged, black woman. I started work on a portrait of her back just before I gave up art ENTIRELY! FOREVER! FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!….

So, I’m revisiting the idea. Rather than search for a new model, I’m going to update a portrait sample I started….that looked nothing like the subject I was drawing. It is, though, a convincing portrait of a black woman. And so, I will continue on “Black Madonna”.rosie