Drawings for February 2011: the last day leaves with the King of the Fat Days

Dawings for February 2011: the day before the last left us BROODING...

I met for sushi and photos with an artist friend and her partner and my family.  It was a lovely time involving toy cars, fake mustaches and raw fish.  Also hot tea.
I also met with my cousin, her daughter and her friend at a chain pizza place that caters to children and has way to much stimuli.  (My cousin's daughter was a lovely little creature amped up on sugar and concentrated mommy time.  I am sure my subconscious sucked up lots of ideas for drawing from her presence!  Also, I would love to spend more time with my cousin as she is a very wonderful person.  But these bits don't matter to the massive factiod I have yet to unleash!...)
In between (and this is the part that matters to viewers of Inventing Trees even/especially in South Korea) I got new pencils: 10 Mars Lumograph HB, 4 Mars Lumograph 2B and 2 Mars Lumograph 8B.  I also snagged some paper but that is inconsequential.  It is the pencils that matter.  Joy is measured in Mars Lumograph HB pencils.  If the world ended and I was left with ample food, my family and a lifetime supply of Mars Lumograph pencils, I would be good.  Granted, that would be A LOT of pencils as there would be nothing else to do but draw.  But I would be alright with that scenario as well.
Good night and I hope you dream of something that gives you joy.

Drawings for February 2011: 26...the father

Drawings for February 2011: 25...Cthulhu was misunderstood?

Drawings for February 2011: 24th...on her toes

Drawings For February 2011: 23 and before that, 22

 February 22, 2011
Dumby Head

February 23, 2011
Cliffside

Drawings for February 2011: 21 Presidents' Holiday

Drawings for February 2011: 20th: think tank

Drawings for February 2011: the 19th: Chicks and Guns...

Details of "What Happens to Babydolls Here..."

beginnings of most recent in the series

The last drawing of the day for January 2011 was a drawing of one of the co-joined babydolls that I made for the Holiday Window display at the Sylvia Kania Gallery. I rather enjoyed both making the dolls and drawing them. Their shape was interesting and offered enough to keep my attention. (My daughter wanted the dolls at first. Then after having them in her room for about an hour decided that they were too creepy to keep anywhere near her sleeping quarters.)
Thus far four images (paintings on paper) exist of these guys in addition to the original first drawing. The images here are works in process. Stay tuned for the finished images and perhaps where they will be on view.


detail of babyhead

image of all three arms

detail of babyheads

Drawings for February 2011: Friday the 18th

I made a person just shy of 11 years ago. At her birth, she appeared to be a pretty well crafted person. Everything was in the proper location. She responded to stimuli in the proper fashion. (Although after wriggling out of that tight opening, she was kinda tired and I think the whole concept of gravity without fluid and breathing air kinda made her confused.)
At any rate, she'll be 11 in the summer and she doesn't appear to be just a well crafted person. She is in fact a top rate human being. She is compassionate, curious, creative, intelligent and a whole mess of other adjectives describing wonderfulness.
Anyway, today she is home sick. She has been complaining about being sick all day as she really did want to go to school. She had other things to do as well she told me. She hates being sick. I don't like when she is sick, either. But I get a moment to take care of her...another moment when she needs me to rub her head and make her feel better. The kinda "feel better" that can be solved with tea and ginger ale and cozy blankets and rest. It is sick days like these when I brace myself for the days when the "help me feel betters" are the results of broken hearts and other pains that are more difficult to spot. But I think hot tea and cozy blankets help those as well.
So do kind words.
ahhh, kind words go very far indeed.

Drawings for February 2011: Yesterday and Today (16 going on 17)

The drawing for Wednesday, February 16 entailed a crudely drawn, very rough sketch of a woman with her head consisting only of an oval that I placed sidelong. I then sewed a spiral out of brown thread with the machine. I wanted it to be red, but the cupboard was bare in that respect.
I then poured water on the drawing and flooded it with silver arcylic paint. After dumping the majority of the watery paint in the rinse jar, I balled the drawing up and wrung it out. Then I smoothed it out.
Hmmm.

The drawing for Thursday the 17th is much more straight forward: a very rough quick sketch of a dog skull (my childhood dog to be exact).

Drawings for February 2011: 15: Breakfast for a Fine Friend

So many of the drawings that I have done so far for this series have been requests. Simple requests, funny requests, requests as dares.
Some of the things I have been asked to draw are meaningful although they seem simple.
My other work is as an educator at a rape crisis center. That work, the crux of the work involves teaching non-violence. As such I have the privilege of working with some very amazing people. One of those people asked for a waffle with butter and powdered sugar. She requested this last week and I must confess that I didn't quite get it. Then she told me the "why."
So, I really don't care if you don't like this drawing. (I do care but not in a deep profound way...) I like it, this drawing. I like what it means and the story that I was told. I hope that the requester likes it. I'll redo it for her.
And if you have ideas, I'd gladly listen to your story as well.
Namaste.

Drawings for February 2011: the 14th...Reptilian Brain

This image was photographed wet. The paint that I needed to add won't be dry for a day, maybe less. Also I needed the paper to be larger so I sewed a second piece to the original drawing.
I wonder often about the rules of painting and drawing and sometimes I think we adhere to them too rigidly. Hmmm. We'll see what I think about the image once it dries.
I think I'll go make dinner and have a glass of wine and perhaps develop more coherent thoughts about drawing.
Or perhaps, I will just draw more.
Maybe a mix of both.
That last options sounds logical.
Just like this drawing.
Logical.

Drawings for February 2011: 11, 12, 13

Friday: February 12...yum.


February 12...y=cosx



February 13...plain.

Drawings for February 2011: 10- blushing?

Drawings for February 2011: 9: even unicorns

Drawings for February 2011: the 8th: It has to go somewhere.

Drawings for February 2011: February 7: Cupid gets the job done

Drawings for February 2011: sunday the 6th: request from 10 year old girls

Drawings for February 2011: 2/3/11 to 2/5/11

February 3 was the Chinese New Year: Happy Year of the Golden Rabbit!

February 3: Empty Cage

February 4: Half-arsed Strut (it was a long day)

February 5: Jade Cutting

Totus est non ut is videor (scene 2, take 1)

(If you have not read Totus est non ut is videor parts 1 and 2 I strongly suggest that you do. You can access them by clicking on the key word Molestus Creatura at the bottom of this post.)

First Friday came around again last evening, bringing with it another chance for Molestus Creatura to play out en masse. My mood all day was one of harried foulness. I was in a bad mood, a much different mood than I was met with a month ago. Projects, deadlines, rushing from presentations to meetings to getting things done. Harried. Foulness. Or just grumpy and tired if you like that combo better. This impacted my approach to the Molestus Creatura greatly.

First, I made the decision to put hot sauce in with the vinegar. I thought this would act as a bigger warning and beacon for people to not drink.
Hmmmm. The turn out for this particular First Friday in Portland, Maine did not seem as big as compared to January. Few people packed themselves into Sylvia Kania Gallery. More room.
There were a few people who walked into the gallery and made a bee line for the "wine," however it seemed much fewer than in previous months.

We had a good turn out of regular Art Walkers who turn out for the art walk for the art and the company rather than the free wine. Some people who drank the "wine" last month did not do so this month. Curiousier still were the people who saw us out in public, in other parts of our lives and were angry at the "trick we pulled on" them.

Ahhh, we played no trick, love. Only made a point. Reading is not just about words just as communication is not just about words...words seem to encompass a big part of our lives and I will agree as I write these words, that words are very important. But so is how it is delivered, the area around the words and so many other little bits of information and data.

Several times last evening we (I was relieved of my monitoring duties because I was in that foul mood) asked people to "read" the whole piece. To which they would reply, "But I can't read that language!"

In an art gallery, reading is about understanding the imagery, interpreting the visual cues and outputs and gathering information from the whole piece. Pictures, the structure and composition of the piece and the placement of the piece in the room carry as more weight than the words more often than not. The language is multi-sensory.

Finally, the observation that we found ourselves confronted with was this rather nasty one: We would prejudge who we would tell not to drink the "wine." I haven't really wrapped my head around that one because I am scared of it. It was true. Sometimes during the evening anyone of us in the gallery could have intervened and told somebody not to drink but didn't because of something about the person that made us not. It was a nasty bit of humanity that popped up because of this piece: We choose people we think are "worthy."

And worthy isn't the right word. Again I think it goes back to those non-verbal, multi-sensory cues and personal histories. Something about one person will make you talk to them, but a similar set with just a jigger difference with make you refrain from talking to someone else. Again, this is something that scares me and I haven't worked through yet. It is a defense mechanism I believe.

My husband wanted me to do a statistical analysis of the piece. He's crazy. But there would be interesting data therein. Maybe in its next installation. But this installment of Molestus Creatura is finished. I thank you all (everyone who drank the "wine" who didn't, who stood by, who got angry, who was embarrassed, all of you) for taking part. I am humbled.

Drawings for February 2011: Mermaid and Groundhog

February 1: a mermaid


February 2: Ground Hog Day

Janaury's Favorites?

Good morning...well at least it is morning right now as I write this. But regardless of when it is where you read this I want to know which were your favorite drawings from the January edition of my Drawing a Day 2011 project. I have some ideas about what I will do with this information, nothing really solid yet. But mostly your feedback and impressions would be very valuable to me artistically.
So let me know: what were your top five favorite drawings from the drawing a day 2011 (January edition)?

And stay tuned for February!