I recently completed a piece for an exciting upcoming exhibition called Painted Sound, a project curated by Ixie Darkonn and Alexandra Mazzanti (Dorothy Circus Gallery) that opens at Flower Pepper Gallery in Pasadena later this month. Inspiration for each piece came from my go-to inspiration… MUSIC! Artist’s chose a song, painted their hearts out, and wrote about how and why the song inspired them. The painting images / descriptions from the 46 artists taking part will exhibit AND be made into a small book coming out later this month (will keep you posted about that!). Here’s my piece…
Circe (pronounced SUR-see)
inspired by the song Now’s the Only Time I Know by Fever Ray
11″ x 14″
Graphite/Acrylic/Oil on Canvas SOLD
EXHIBITION:Flower Pepper Gallery, Pasadena, CA | Jan 26th – Feb 28th, 2013 OPENING: Saturday, Jan 26th from 6 pm – 10 pm
Visit the exhibition website www.paintedsoundshow.com to preview the show and find out which songs inspired each piece. Also on the site is a very cool preview trailer which I’ve re-posted below.
When I started Drawing a Drawing 365 (www.DrawingADrawing.com) I had no idea how fans would react to my lofty ambition to take on 365 daily portraits, dozens of drawing & painting commissions, and a full-length tutorial all in the span of 1 short year! Well…
25 days and 365 backers later,
we’ve hit the $50K mark…
and we still have 5 days to go!
This has been an absolute dream. There are no words to express my gratitude for all of the support I have received so far. I have a lot of work ahead of me and I can honestly say that I’ve never been so excited to create art in my life! I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow throughout this exciting process, and share my journey and the beautiful things that are sure to come out of it with those who are interested.
For those just joining… I am drawing 1 portrait every day for 1 year to help fund a full-length drawing/painting tutorial via Kickstarter*. Those who support the project have the opportunity to be one of the “days” in the 365 days and have their own unique and meaningful personal portrait drawn.
In appreciation of all of the love & support I’ve received from this project…
I’m giving away THREE free portrait days!
To give you a glimpse of what 365-pledgers (and portrait WINNERS) have to look forward to, I’ve created an example of what one of these sketches will look like along with a time-lapse video of the making-of.
^ An example of a 365-sketch (Cora, 8×10, Gesso/Graphite on Illustration Board)
*Kickstarter is a platform for artists to showcase and raise funds for their creative projects. It allows fans the opportunity to help bring the ideas they choose to life. The best part is that in return for a pledge, backers get cool rewards… in my Drawing a Drawing 365 project this includes prints, DVDs, personal portraits, even an e-book sharing what I’ve learned to help fellow artists launch projects of their own. (www.DrawingADrawing.com)
——————– UPDATE ——————–
AND THE WINNERS ARE…
Thanks to everyone who entered! I truly appreciate all of the wonderful, beautiful comments. You guys are awesome and I wish I could create a special portrait for each one of you!
Unfortunately there can only be THREE winners and they are…
Congratulations Courtney! Your day is October 20, 2012.
Congratulations Laura! Your day is October 21, 2012.
Congratulations Lee! Your day is October 22, 2012.
I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of seeing into the future. Ultimately I feel that we are the creators of our own destiny but also that there is this mystery and force that is greater than ourselves simultaneously at work. It’s no doubt that our choices and actions help to create our future but how much is left to fate or to the great threads that link all of our lives into one? Perhaps most intriguing, is there a way to tap into and obtain a glimpse of what can or will happen to us?
With these questions and ideas in mind, I decided to create this visual story of a girl who traveled a long distance and overcame many challenges to obtain an ancient power to see into the future. Instead of a crystal ball, her tool is an actual crystal which she retrieved from this rocky and violent mountain landscape. The painting image is the point where she rests with her hard-won prize and is unexpectedly shown a major shift in her life’s course, a big change like the one often depicted in the death card from tarot decks.
The girl in the painting is named Crystallina. I found it fitting not only because her power comes from a crystal but because of an interesting personal story… A few years back, my fiance and I decided it’d be fun to go to a psychic. During my session, the woman reading me looked at me and super-seriously said something like, “When you’re painting, there is a spirit around you helping you. Her name is Crys… Crysta… Crystal… CRYSTALLINA!” I didn’t really know what to think. I remember part of me found it funny (a “bull s!@#” might have ran through my mind) but another part of me was intrigued by the idea of this spirit helping me paint and maybe working through me somehow.
The Death of Crystallina
24″ x 36″
Graphite/Acrylic/Oil on Canvas
This piece will be exhibited alongside many other talented up-and-coming artists at Thinkspace Gallery’s Picks of the Harvest 2012 show opening March 3rd and on view through March 24th in Culver City, CA. It’s an amazing line-up so if you can make it out in person, do it! If you’d like to see a preview of the show, visit Thinkspace’s sneak peek HERE. The complete lineup is listed below (click to enlarge).
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