Friday, July 13, 2012

Lost

Again, IF's timing seems almost uncanny. I'm feeling rather lost at the moment! With both my year of Oddments & my multiple-year children's book finished, my seemingly-eternal painting commission almost completed, & yet way too much assorted stuff going on in my life... I'm having a hard time staying pointed in one direction.

I'm actually used to getting lost, but mostly it happens on the road. Even though on paper I test well on spatial reasoning, & I can read a map relatively well, put me out in the real world & it is all too easy for me to get completely turned around. I think a big part of it is that I hate driving, so I tend to daydream in the car. Sometimes I blink out of some reverie & feel like I've suddenly landed on another planet, when probably I just missed a turn while thinking about some current obsession... I really should invest in a GPS. It would probably save time, gas & anxiety.

This is quite an old piece-- in fact, it was one of the first experimental pieces I did when I was exploring the paint-on-print style that is now my usual modus operandi. Looking back, that was another time when I felt very lost artistically (hence the subject!) but in fact I was finding myself in a big way. I guess I should take comfort in that!

Acrylic on text from The Automobile Green Book, 1921-- a fascinating document actually, detailing road trips around New England when road trips were a very different experience! ~5.5"x5.5"






12 comments:

  1. Perfect for this week's theme! I always appreciate your technique of painting on print, and the perplexed expression is great! I hope you will post here when your book is available!!!

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  2. this is a wonderful LOST illustration. they seem very lost. great style!

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  3. Oh my goodness, I feel like I was reading about myself - getting lost and all. My work burden is not related to art at all but my professional career. Today I planned to finish an onerous task that has consumed much of my time this week. Normally it takes me a day but we have a new tool and it is like calligraphy by hand and then told that I must use a computer. Well that is an exaggeration, but that's how I feel. Instead of working on it, I spent most of the day helping someone fix her problem. Argh!

    Your painting is wonderful. There is something endearing in the way you draw your characters' eyes. They are so expressive!!! I love the way you paint limbs. Hope you take some time for yourself. Tsup!

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  4. Perfect! I like how this piece led you to your current working style too. It's nice to know other artists know that feeling and cool things can come out of being lost :)

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  5. Fantastic! I love the composition, and it's got such a wonderfully 3D feeling.

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  6. I was in that "lost" space for many months. I feel I've come out of it now, but I've gone in so many different directions with my new enthusiasm, that I've moved on into "Phase Overwhelmed." Keep that thought that something wonderful came out of the last "lost" period. That's what will happen this time too!

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  7. I really like your illustration! The full, warm colors, the shading for depth, the despair in the eyes... The take on the theme is great! Love it!

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  8. WOW - you have a truly amazing style - great use of color and design!

    Brandi

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  9. I agree with many of the earlier comments-- Your colors are extraordinary! They pour out like honey. And I'm always riveted by the way you do your eyes.

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  10. Gosh, do people still use paper roadmaps? Well, I must confess I occasionally do. This reminds me of a very early strip cartoon I did at CSLB explaining how to refold a map; two panels of folding it all backwards and wrong, then the final panel is of it just wadded into a ball, in anger.

    You paint the best eyeballs.

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  11. Wow! Love this - especially the curviness (bendiness?) of the arms, body and fingers. You have a great style... :)

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