Fido and Fluffy are Family Too!

C-is-for-cat-CrailYes, C is For Cat!  Meet my beautiful feline friend Toby.  He’s been with me for 16 years now and has been feeling a bit poorly recently.  One thing I’m so glad of is that over the years I have taken the time to make art pieces out of my cat friends.  Our pets are such important part of our family.  I do animal art portraits professionally too and my tag line is “Fido and Fluffy are Family Too”.  They are such wonderful companions with these great distinctive personalities and big love in abundance for us.  Not a day goes by that I don’t sit back and marvel at the joy they bring into my world with their sweet and loving companionship.  I’m feeling so much love and compassion for my ailing Toby today so decided to share this artistic representation I did of him a couple of years ago.  His bountiful purr is unparalleled!

On the technical side I found some wonderful old lettering and clip art to use for the drawn graphic elements and also wrote the prose, which I used both in english and in french.   It’s created in Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter.

 

Geisha

Geisha

“There is currently no western equivalent for a geisha—they are truly the most impeccable form of Japanese art.”—Kenneth Champeon, The Floating World

And the quote actually sums up the picture for me. Today I took the original a few steps further– it’s a bit subtle perhaps, which make me think a bit philosophically too about the (my own) creation process.  

This may sound strange to people who really know me but I find myself rather restrained and long to break out artistically. Truth is no matter what level you are at, the creative must always strive for more– bigger, greater, more profound, always trying to up our skills a notch, figure out how to do that new cool thing. It never stops.

I’ve learned a lot about courage from looking at others work and desire greatly to put more courage in my approach and execution of what I do too.

No matter what I’m photographing, I’m always looking to please both the client and myself so I often capture juicy imagery that I might eventually make art out of even if it does take me years to get back to them.

The original image that I created this art piece from was photographed during a job, an event assignment, where many people were in costume.  This woman just caught my eye, possibly because the she so embodied her character it was entrancing. Today I happened upon the original in my archives and decided to put a spin on it artistically and now you see the result!

From Wikipedia: Geisha (芸者?), geiko (芸子) or geigi (芸妓) are traditional Japanese female entertainers who act as hostesses and whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music, dance and games.

Drawsome the App

Are you as amazed as I am by the number of wonderful apps out there?  I found one recently that has really got my attention in a big way.  DrawSomething.  On my iPhone or iPad, one finger and a bunch of color choices to  get another person to guess the word you picked based on what you drew.  I’m constantly delighted to see how the simplest line gesture can suggest so much. It’s a treat. I’m not advertising for the app.  It’s just that so many artists, including myself, work very hard to get things just right, trying to make something perfect in their art.  This is a delight because of the freedom to NOT get it right.  Just have fun and get the idea across.  So here’s a video of a few of my drawings I managed to save along the way.  Better to keep those creative juices flowing by whatever means, this is one I’ve found that really works for me…

Napoleon Bonaparte and his brilliant quote

“A picture is worth a thousand words.”  Napoleon Bonaparte

This is one of those quotes that people use everyday and we all simply believe it– because it’s true and so perfectly stated!

Napoleon Bonaparte, the Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, told the artist Jacques-Louis David who painted this famous likeness, “You have understood me, my dear David.”

What more perfect response can we hope to capture from our subjects.  As long as I have been a photographer I have strived to capture the intangible essence of my friends, loved ones and subjects.  The greatest thing we can do for another as an artist is to see people, to capture them, to express their inner and outer most beauty.  I deal with vanity everyday– both my own and that of the people I photograph.  The one thing I have learned through my experiences and practicing compassion, courage and commitment to my art is that we are all beautiful, and in this moment more beautiful than we have ever been. We are the sum of our parts, the wisdom of our experience, the depth of our life on the earth and all that we know, all we have evolved into.  It’s the human spirit that is the amazing and common thread that is in us all.   We are perfection now and in each subsequent moment we continue our journey.

We may never say that directly to someone with words, but we certainly can say it with our truest artistic expression of that perfect person who has trusted us enough to have us create their image in whatever medium we use.


But what of the 1000 words when this particular image has spawned 1000 questions about the enigmatic placement of his hand in his coat in the famous painting by Jacques-Louis David, titled The Emperor Napoleon in his Study at the Tuileries.  There are countless theories but no absolutes.  Among them are that Naploeon had gout and was unable to hold his hand at his side comfortably.  Another that the artist didn’t like painting hands so he didn’t.  Napoleon did not sit for this portrait either, it was painted by the artist from memory.  It’s also been theorized that the hidden hand was a feature of some statues of the ancient Greeks and Romans and ancient orators as well who tucked their hands into their togas.  Here are even more.  That he had a stomach ulcer, he was winding his watch, he had an itchy skin disease, a deformed hand, that in his day it was impolite to put your hands in your pockets,  he had a perfumed sachet in his vest that he’d sniff surreptitiously.  It has also been suggested that most of the people using this sign are members of the Freemasons.  The “hidden hand” can be found in the rituals of the Royal Arch Degree of Freemasonry and the world leaders that use this sign are subtly saying to other initiates of the order: “This is what I’m part of, this is what I believe in and this is what I’m working for”.

Napoleon gave us one of the greatest quotes ever– “A picture is worth a thousand words.”–  and also left us with one of the greatest mysteries as well.  What is not a mystery, however, is the importance of seeing and capturing the beauty in everything, no matter how fleeting, no matter how small, no matter how hidden, no matter how shy.  Beauty lives in us all and it is our job as artists to seek it and express it in our own unique ways.


The Next Fashion Star, lessons in peek-a-boo

SHOW ‘EM WHATCHA GOT! Or in the immortal words of EMINEM– You get one shot so don’t miss your chance to blow cuz opportunity comes once in a lifetime. Last night I watched The Next Fashion Star.And I kept asking myself over and over what are you guys thinking???It was with some suspicion I watched The Next Fashion Star on NBC last night. I tuned in because I’m a HUGE Project Runway fan and hoped this might be interesting. Talk about life lessons, oh my.Imagine you are an aspiring fashion designer and Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue and H&M are all there–in the room holding tens of thousands of dollars to spend– to look at your stuff. Do you show them your best work or do you tease them and make them work just a little too hard for it? I swear it’s the ultimate in arrogance to take the spot light and show anything less than your A game! There were three memorable contestants who really didn’t get the fundamental idea of the WOW factor necessary for capturing the attention of someone you want to get into the game with. You gotta WOW ’em! These people don’t want a tease, they want the goods. One of the contestants sent ONLY neckwear made from the collars and pieces from men’s shirts. The dresses the runway models wore were some other unnamed designer. Really? A neckwear accessory. That’s it, that’s all she sent the buyers with promises– Oh yes, I have so much more, she promised with a breathy growl. But what she showed did not make me even slightly interested in the ‘so much more’. The second one on the chopping block was a colorful sweetly silly prone to crying cherub of a man who’s workroom we saw in B roll. Imaginative, colorful and just deliciously fun work! Did he send deliciously fun onto the runway? NO. He sent pretty things but nothing unconventional and exciting like what we’d seen in his workroom. Luckily the mentors saved him from being eliminated because it looked like he might be the first to be kicked off. But then there was the guy who told the two women mentors and the two women buyers that he doesn’t think women know anything about men’s wear and what’s trending so he wasn’t interested in their opinion. UH WHAT? Buh Bye. Even when he tried repeatedly to correct himself he kept making the same ridiculous point. He’s the one who got kicked off the show first. The point of all this?Your assignment is to show your BEST work to your potential clients. Don’t tease anyone– not unless it’s the Holy Cow of teases. Even the tease should be amazing. Got that? Now, go make art!

Holy Smokes I made a gif!

Dizzy Bunny!, line drawing animationFun with animation, a line drawing I did on this lazy and sweet Sunday. The best way to learn anything is to do it again and again! This is one of those things I’ve wanted to learn for so long– simple gif animations. It is simple but definitely a little confusing at first. Nothing like making it work using 58 layers!