Keith Richards

I was so bummed that I forgot to initially include that Keith Richards / Rolling Stones' video on the Blues (in Britain) at the end of my last post until after it sailed off into the universe, I decided to post it again.  Along with it, I give you a fast portrait drawing of Keith from a shot at the very end of the clip after he dispenses the bit of wisdom below.

Here it is done in black ink.  One of my favorite rocker dudes ever to grace the planet.

"I mean, what do you want to do in this world, ya' know?  

Why did you start it?  

How do you want to finish it?  

Now that's the blues."

Keith Richards talks about The Blues in Britain:

You Make Me Giggle

I've been working on this little fellow for awhile.  I usually do have a little piece sitting on the side that I add and add to while working on other things, while listening to music, while daydreaming, or in my case I should say, nightdreaming before sleeping.

What is it saying?  "You make me giggle,"  "Don't make me laugh,"  "Mum's the word," "I was just thinking of you," "Oops, I just let a fluffy?"  I left a glimpse of a little Anthropologie bowl on top of its head--thought it looked like a cute little hat. (-:

ANYWAY,

in this case, I finished this fellow after re-listening to this fantastic podcast that my friend, Tanja, clued me into: Marc Maron interviewing Roseanne Cash.  Start listening at about 13 minutes in order to bypass commercials/and intro.

I was listening to it driving home from Chicago last Saturday, but I couldn't always concentrate on it, seeing as how I was avoiding potential collisions on the highway.  Around about 40 minutes, they start talking about the blues, and Marc says this:  "The power of the blues to ease your heart is so fucking phenomenal." My sentiments exactly, baby.  They go on to talk about being an artist, and an artist's life, saying how it's impossible to quit being an artist...well, man, listen for yourself.

At one point, Marc mentions the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and the Stones' "Love in Vain" playing.  And, since the Rolling Stones are one of the biggest lovers and promoters of the original blues singers (and Mick Jagger is one of the producers for the James Brown biopic, "Get on Up") let's have you listen to it below, o.k.?  O.K.  Maybe you can let your mind wander, and you can draw your own little creature.

"Love in Vain"  Rolling Stones

THE CLASSIC:  Robert Johnson, "Love in Vain"

Eh, this sucks.  I wrote this blog, and probably anyone who checked it already won't be checkin' in on this post again, but here's one more thing I wished I had added before:  Keith Richards talking about the Blues in Britain.  Geez, Louise!  How did this feathery fellow become my dissertation on the blues?  Sorry, folks, but you know, I always like a good mind meandering!

Blueberry Pie

Go read about this beauty on my other blog: http://www.listentomepielady.blogspot.com. (-;

Throw-Together Blueberry Pie

At The Party

At The Party

I Will Call Myself Madonna

I had this old drawing I had done about 6 years ago and thought I would give him a makeover. However, he somehow morphed into a young Madonna.  I said to the picture, what happened here?  What is the story behind this metamorphosis?  Cue music:  "...and here's what she said to me..."  No, not "que, sera, sera," but "Get into the groove..."  and then she reminisced about a life-altering event in the local discount store in Michigan long ago:

Fifteen-year-old Madonna Louise Ciccone stared at the blue wigs in her local Woolworth's store.  She was supposed to be there to get her new school supplies for her sophomore year, but she had other thoughts in her mind such as, what was she to wear for her upcoming school yearbook pictures?  Should she dare don that bright yellow tube top staring at her from the clothing section?  It most definitely accented her newly-developed curves so it was definitely a contender.  That idea, however, was thrown out the proverbial window when she donned one of those blue wigs.  She looked at herself in the small, circular metal mirror on the shelf and was entranced--why, even Narcissus would have been jealous!  A feeling of what she should do in her future washed over her:  I will become famous world-wide, a controversial superstar, provocatively sexual, and unerringly magnetic.  And then, the bubbling fervor of self-knowledge flew forth aloud from her lips, right there in the cluttered five-and-dime store aisle she said for all to hear: 

"I will call myself...Madonna." 

The original from years ago:

"Get into the Groove"

Susan Andrea Warmington - Jazzmaican

My friend, Susan Andrea Warmington just released a beautiful jazz CD available at CDbaby.  Jamaican-born, and beautiful inside and out, she is an amazing vocalist! Click the link, and take a listen.

From the Album Notes:

Susan Andrea Warmington is a Jamaican born, American based, Jazz Singer whose style is sunny and warm, yet emotional and expressive. All the songs were recorded and produced in Jamaica at the famed Tuff Gong Studios with wonderful Jamaican Jazz Musicians and shows the great diverse musicianship that the beautiful island offers. Susan herself is classically trained but has chosen Jazz as the primary way of expressing her Voice. On her debut EP, JAZZMAICAN she sings the Peggy Lee classic "I Don't Know Enough About You" with Jamaican Jazz legend, Ernest Ranglin among other lovely ditties with her friends.

Floppy Hat over Cool Blues

Hmm.  I have nothing to say about this fellow, except that I really like him.  Ha!  You just know that he was out in the fields, rolling up hay bales or coming in from riding his horse all over some mountains in Montana, weary from corralling cattle and newborn calves.  Anyway, that's what I think. (-;

Songs to Draw From - Talking Heads - "This Must Be the Place" (Not Available)

The Brooklyn Art Library's Sketchbook Project always offers so many great projects and challenges (free and otherwise) to inspire the world to make art at every turn.  Today is the last day to participate in their latest offering, in collaboration with Diner Journal magazine, but you still have a few hours to get inspired and get something in the mail.  Here's the link:  songs to draw from.  Check it out to see everyone's outcome.

Here's my contribution to their latest challenge (fuzzy, original 1983 video at bottom)--

My interpretation of the Talking Heads song, "This Must Be the Place."

My first rough sketch--shoot, now that I'm looking at it, I forget to include that love hammer to the head!  Oh well, c'est la vie.

This Must Be The Place

Translation in progress. Please wait...

Home is where I want to be
Pick me up and turn me around
I feel numb, burn with a weak heart
Guess I must be having fun

The less we say about it the better
Make it up as we go along
Feet on the ground, head in the sky
It's okay, I know nothing's wrong, nothing

I got plenty of time
You got light in your eyes
And you're standing here beside me
I love the passing of time
Never for money, always for love
Cover up and say goodnight, say goodnight

Home, is where I want to be
But I guess I'm already there
I come home, she lifted up her wings
I guess that this must be the place

I can't tell one from the other
I find you, or you find me?
There was a time before we were born
If someone asks, this is where I'll be, where I'll be

We drift in and out
Sing into my mouth
Out of all those kinds of people
You got a face with a view

I'm just an animal looking for a home
And share the same space for a minute or two
And you love me till my heart stops
Love me till I'm dead

Eyes that light up
Eyes look through you
Cover up the blank spots
Hit me on the head

Songwriters: BYRNE, DAVID/WEYMOUTH, TINA/HARRISON, JERRY/FRANTZ, CHRISTOPHER

This Must Be The Place lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

Hope Floats and Soul Feels--really, there's an explanation for this!

I can just feel people worried about my mental state on this one.  I actually painted this in June, right after that "Phone Call in Red."  I did the same thing, saturating the Bristol page with copious amounts of water, but to a greater degree this time around.  I painted this one in green ink, and almost wished I had left it alone right there.  Something with the running green and starkness of white appealed to me, but I kept going. 

It made me think of the 1956 French Picasso documentary, "Le Mystere Picasso" ("The Mystery of Picasso"),--NOT that I think I'm Picasso!  But towards the end of the film, he paints a picture and you want him to just stop.  It's wonderful.  But he keeps going...and there's another moment where you think, STOP!  You'll ruin it!  And onward he goes, painting over, blocking out, on and on, until even he admits that on this one, he went too far.  He couldn't save it any longer.  But as I lost my first strictly green and white painting, the one where the eyes conveyed more apprehension than sadness, I thought of Pablo.  And then I thought, maybe you can never get to be a great artist, or at least the best artist you can be, if you're not willing to destroy your own art.

I read once where someone said you should show the process of your creations.  And I do, at times.  But more often than not, I have entered some sort of Zen zone.  Even I don't know what I'm creating.  Most of the time I don't.  And in those moments, I never think to myself to stop and take a picture of what I'm doing.  I WISH I had that green and white photo, but as Al Pacino said of the NYC rooftop playgrounds of his youth, "that world is gone."

I have some need to explain what this is about, but why?  Is it less artistic, because I feel that I want to explain?  On one hand, because I'm not a stop, take-a-picture-along-the-way painter, I think that my words are my photo timeline.

Anyway, people think I'm off my rocker, but it's my blessing/curse of feeling deeply that's at work, not mental illness. 

I WAS watching the 2008 film, "Hope Floats" with Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick, Jr. two Saturdays ago.  That film is a tough one to watch.  I think it's great, but there often is one humiliating event after emotional upheaval after another.  I have to admit, I was crying hard, and that green running around the nose--well, it couldn't be more apropos, because that's the exact, snotty cry I was having.

I saw shapes within the background of ghostly, strange figures, and I brought them forward.  I wanted to post this pic, but I actually feared people would think, "Geez, she's SO depressing."  OR, it could be like the old lady, who upon seeing a painting of mine (which is a little scary) in a recent art show, loudly saying, "Oh, I don't like this kind of art."  Oh my gosh, I actually cracked up on that one as I watched and heard her reaction.

You see, my sweet paintings are much more popular, but I don't always feel that way.  And I don't always want to paint that way.  What I want to do is get rid of the knot inside of me that builds with more complex emotions, and that only happens by painting and releasing those feelings.  See the basket on the girl's cheek?  I wanted to indicate that I feel the need to catch all of my emotions--not just the happy ones.  The curious, critical figures to the right?  They're the ones I feared judgment from.  The woman creation is frustrated--she just wants happy art.  The man is trying to figure out what the hell is happening.  Look, these people represent no one.  Just the meandering contemplations of my mind.  At this point in my life, the majority of time I am pretty much past the judgments; but for this one, one that is so personal, I felt overly exposed, raw...I didn't want to post it, and I actually was surprised at myself for feeling so trepidatious.

To the left...the hands and arms encircling/supporting "HOPE" that is floating.  Seems good in theory, but sometimes, you eye that concept from a distance...is it really possible?  Because I'd be lying if I didn't say at times I doubt it (Hope, that is).  I think, try to recall all I've watched and read in "The Secret," but baby, a veces (sometime), it's hard.

 

My favorite line of the entire movie comes from Harry Connick, Jr.'s character, Justin Matisse.  Sandra Bullock, upon realizing how talented he is with building houses, tells him he should try to make money from his talent rather than just going around painting walls.  He tells her (regarding the exploitation of your talent/dream) the following: 

 

"You find something you love and you twist it and torture it and try to make money at it. And at the end, you can't find a trace of what you started out loving."

 

Maybe that's what I'm trying to say, too.  I have to make these, non-pleasant things.  In the end, they mean more to me than all the pretty ones.

Hope you had a great Fourth of July

I had a whirlwind weekend with family this past holiday.  As we were waiting for the fireworks to start, I drew this of my cousin's blackboard-painted door in her kitchen.  He's cheering to the day, probably with a limeade...or a margarita, who knows? (-;

I included my Aunt Judy in the picture since we were teasing her about her road trip escapades.  Hope you celebrated our country's independence in style.  And I hope, all of us remember the delicacy of state and the tremendous freedom we have been given.  May we NEVER take it for granted.

 

 

 

Woman in Her Blossom Hat

A little bit of time plus the following equals this little lady:  Piece of extra paper, oil, pastel, ink, glitter, charcoal, acrylic, watercolor pencil, and heavyweight paper from a bar of expensive soap I bought from Anthropologie.  Yes, it's true!  I like to use it all!  (See, when I say something is "mixed media," well baby, you better believe it's super mixed!

I recently cleaned off my entire desk, and then found I was stymied.  I need all my "stuff" around me and easily available.  Being organized does not work for the way I work!

I think this lady is much prettier in person.  You can't see the purple glitter that well in her face, but it shimmers in reality.

Summertime Sweetness (SOLD)

My art has been a little serious of late.  So instead, here's a little sweetness for your summertime.   (-: 

I think this little one is saying, "I'm going this way."

 

And then I think of that beautiful Italian word Elizabeth Gilbert used in 

Eat, Pray, Love, "Attraversiamo" (let’s cross over).   

To what you ask?  Well, to unbridled happiness, bien sûr!

(Of course!  This time a little French for you.  What can I say?  As America's Independence Day approaches, I'm feeling international, because we are, after all, made up of everywhere.) (-:

Eat, Pray, Love, "Attraversiamo"

Phone Call in Red

I found myself, one recent hazy day after watching an old movie, wanting to experiment with painting in one color.  I wet down some Bristol paper quite abundantly and used only red.  At the last minute, I added a smeary pastel of yellow to mimic the glow from old fluorescent bulbs.  The result satisfied my meandering mind and momentary meditative need for quietude.  Ah, how I love alliteration!

Phone Call in Red