How can Lou Reed be dead? Sometimes the passage of time is felt most deeply in the deaths of my rock 'n' roll idols. I can remember being a little, little kid and hearing "Walk on the Wild Side" on the radio. Somehow we knew there was something "dirty" about it from the way the grown-ups around us would never explain our questions about certain words. We decided we liked it just because it was a great song even if we didn't know what it was about. Adulthood brought more astute understanding of this rock 'n' roll punk innovator. So sorry to see you go...
Lou Reed from above article: “I have never thought of music as a challenge — you always figure the audience is at least as smart as you are,” he wrote. “You do this because you like it, you think what you’re making is beautiful. And if you think it’s beautiful, maybe they think it’s beautiful.”
I didn't set out to make a terrifying picture, and really, if you look, the eyes aren't malevolent. Here's how this one came about.
About a month ago, I was walking along checking out the neighborhood and ended up on a street section that I don't usually frequent. Someone had a basket of petunias sitting outside. You know how petunias start to look as their season comes to an end, spindly vines and sparse, small flowers? That's how this plant looked. I thought, "Boy, those petunias are getting long in the tooth."
Well, that did it. Another part of my brain was triggered. At a gathering about 4 or 5 years ago (I have a pretty good memory, people), a girl named Cera, who works at a vet's office, relayed how a woman came in and said, "Mah dawg needs a rabies (shot)." She said her teeth were as long as fingers. Well, who could ever forget a descriptive phrase like that? Not I! I planted it in the back of my mind, and thought, someday I will use that...
So there you have it. In any event, it goes along with the Halloween season. (-;
Petunias Long In The Tooth and Teeth As Long As Fingers
Here's a few more views--the viny flowers go all around--or in more beautiful Spanish--
"alrededor de"
(Ahl-ray-day-door Day)
P.S. As I was painting the petunia portion of this, I was watching one of my favorite movies of all time, "After Hours" directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Teri Garr, Linda Fiorentino and on and on. I love those weird, whacked out movies. It just seemed like the perfect background flick while creating this baby.
I was going to put the movie trailer here, but there is this upbeat Monkey's song ("Take the Last Train to Clarksville") playing which skews the movie towards seeming like a comedy. )-: Let's just say, it's definitely a black comedy. The clip below is better indication of its bizarre, surreal fantasticness!
As soon as George let his bangs grow out, it became quite apparent that he was going bald. His center part no longer a gentle division of hair follicles, but rather a parting of the Red--or in his case--Orange Sea. He tried growing a mustache to compensate, but as has been true for eternity in this particular situation, he fooled no one.
Sitting in a cafe, Margaret was thinking she looked cute in her hand-knit cap and fingerless gloves. She actually even caught the eye of a guy in the corner with a plaid shirt and black Buddy Holly glasses. That was until, she felt a sneeze come over her faster than she could act. Hands full of knitting needles and a ball of yarn, she just had to let the innards of her nose fly! She felt simultaneously humiliated and resigned as she watched her Brooklyn hipster lower his head over his magazine. Well, what could she do? Back to knit-one, pearl-two.
Here's another one I started awhile back and abandoned. I spent 4 hours completing it today (well, the middle of the night--I couldn't sleep). I was going to call it "Farewell, Ice Cream Man," but after it SNOWED big fat, wet flakes in Illinois yesterday--October 22nd--before Halloween, I thought, "Even Indian summer is over."
Just two Fridays ago it was 80°F (26.6°C), and my friend and I were eating at an outside cafe. Two days later, Oct. 13th, I took this pictures around our neighborhood. I like the juxtaposition of the still green trees flush with autumn leaves of brilliant orange and gold. The sky was so blue, and I even caught catches of summer flowers, still holding on. Alas, by the end of the week it was turning cold, the furnace was on, and yesterday, I actually wore my winter coat. Sadly, I'm already reminiscing the last gift of summer weather seen below.
He was so tired of this Jack-in-the-box life. He wanted to go to Prague, but he didn't know how. Restricted by his current confines and lack of appendages, his fate looked grim. But he had hope, and as he peered over his owner's shoulders while he watched the "Shawshank Redemption," Jack learned--they can never take hope away from you. He eyed the embroidery scissors in the basket to his left. He'd make it to the Czech Republic; he just knew it!
Hello peeps. Do you remember my painting from Day 235, "Be Proud of What You've Got"? (Here's the link to the story: http://livedrawpaint.blogspot.com/2013/08/day-235-be-proud-of-what-youve-got.html.) It's about our heroine not having the prettiest face, but she has lots of attitude when it came to posing nude as an artist's model.
Here is the painting:
I did that painting for an exhibition at the Brooklyn Art Library. It was a Pen Pal Painting Exchange. After the exhibit in Brooklyn, which you can see here at the Flickr link: www.flickr.com/arthousecoop, we received our painting pal's canvas in the mail. Here is mine, which I received today, by Hannah Cook from New York. You can find her other artwork on tumblr@hannahdoesart and instagram@hccook92. It's called, "When Did You Decide to Be Straight?"
Can I tell you how relieved I am to be at 300? Can I say how when I was at Day 183--1/2 way through, I thought I couldn't face another 6 months? Sob! Thank you to all my wonderful supporters--65 more days. I'm going to keep trying!!! It's getting close...
I came home after going out to dinner last night, and watched the Boston Red Sox eliminate the Detroit Tigers, and then drifted off to my room and started to paint this portrait of the most memorable part of my dinner. I mean, the meal was delicious--spinach salad with raspberry vinaigrette; garlic mashed potatoes; medium-rare Gorgonzola topped tenderloin filets with a mushroom marsala sauce, and a nice glass of cabernet-sauvignon. But the medium-rare nature often veered to rare, which I ate, but occasionally got a smell of--I don't know, blood? )-: I did not finish it. I'm obviously an omnivore, but for some reason, I find myself just wanted to eat beans and rice and hot sauce right now.
O.K., so on our way out, there are always a variety of Jelly Belly® flavors you can get from a couple of old-fashioned gumball machines. Last night they had "caramel corn*." Normally Jelly Belly® jelly beans are too sweet for me, but this flavor was a complete revelation!! So delicious, as I show below! (-; Ha!
Can I say, I'm very happy with how this turned out, the eyes and fingers especially. I went to bed at 2 a.m. and woke up with a swollen wrist, a frequent development throughout this project. Anyway, I think it was worth it. (-:
*UN MOMENTITO- I was just about to publish this and put a link to the caramel corn, but I think the beans were mislabeled. Mine were definitely creamy white and yellow--I think I was eating the BUTTERED POPCORN flavor!! Well in any case, here's the Jelly Belly® link--choose for yourself: www.jellybelly.com
Here are the eyes with three different light sources. (outside included).
O.K., I most definitely did not paint this baby in one day. In fact, she's been hanging around since January. I worked on her, and left her. You see, she's really me going through a phase where the only thing I wanted to eat was scrambled eggs. Scrambled eggs with sriracha sauce; with shallots; with chives and truffle salt; with organic feta cheese; with extra-sharp cheddar. Whatever, I just couldn't get enough. The other day I tried to make scrambled eggs, and the smell of them made me feed them to the dog. I guess I'm over that phase for awhile, but here was my tribute.
Anyway, while I'm painting and drawing a painting a day, I'm also frequently working on larger pieces as well. I didn't touch her for so long, because I liked the way she looked and didn't want to "mess her up." However, I have a show coming up, and I had to finish this gal. Tonight I thought, you've got to let her go--you're done. And so she is.
16" x 20" Acrylic, peacock feathers, beads, scrambled eggs
The turquoise/teal background has glitter in it--can you see above?
The peacock feathers in her hair and on her sweater came from a pillbox hat that I traded a painting
for at an art show. Ebert got a hold of it and tore a small hole
in it. It was ruined for wearing, but it wasn't ruined for mixed
media.
