Barbara stanwyck sketch.
They didn’t end how they started. (sketchbook-cleaning)
Sometimes sketches help make a painting. Sometimes they stop a painting from happening. Sometimes, they should have been a painting. Sometimes they just…are. Yes, this is a sketchbook post.
Today I made a sketch of Marilyn and her dog Maf while trying to ditch some anxiety. Marilyn doesn’t look like Marilyn, and I lost interest in the dog, but I love this sketch for all of these reasons. When I am anxious again, I may just start doing sketches of iconic leading ladies posed with pets…..and stay unconcerned about drawing the pet or the proper likeness of the lady.
I am particularly fond of these tragic but semi-interesting 90210 studies that I got…frustrated with in 2010. I accidentally ended it with the Walsh twins looking like zombies.
and Kelly Taylor looking like ghost.
and to end it…pooooooor Little J
Transient Teens
A Jackie-a-Day…kept me away.
I tried to do a Jackie-a-day, I really didt…but I couldn’t. It wasn’t because of my work ethic, although I questioned it. It was my interest level. Jackie sounded great on paper, but not in practice. (I know, that’s a set up for some JFK jokes, but refrain)
I was a bit surprised that Jackie didn’t draw me in as I had hoped. I went into working with Marilyn Monroe’s image having no interest, and seeing no personal indentifications between the two of us…yet here we are, years later…and I am still fascinated by Miss Monroe and continuously being drawn in on am emotional level. While Jackie O. holds much more in common with the people in my own life, I quickly grew bored and detached, which you could see in the work. The drawings and paintings never quite looked like Jackie, and slightly looked like my mother when she was young..or other female members of my family. That’s you get with an icon I guess, but you need something more than just a slight personal touch. Jackie would give me props for knowing when its time to step away….you know..before the point when you have to move to a private Greek island with a rich old man. We part ways for now Jackie, but maybe we’ll talk later.
More to come on the projects I actually have been working on.
A Jackie A Day (…keeps the trauma away..)
Years back when I first started working with Marilyn Monroe’s image, the Marilyn’s I initially produced were drastically different from my current Marilyn work. The early Marilyns were aggressive and somewhat grotesque. I knew little about Marilyn outside from her commercial marketing. Then I started my research…and I am still reading new Marilyn books and evolving a relationship and interest in the subject. While this transformation happened, my regret is that I didn’t further document this process and evolution. I do have some snitbits here:
Now I have decided to start a new project with another iconic American lady from a similar historical period. Appropriately, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onasis. For the next month, I will be doing a Jackie drawing a day…and documenting my progress. I have more up front personal connections with Jackie, and I am curious to see how this work/and relationship will evolve. Plus you know, I currently live in Boston…might as well.
Here’s some starters:
stay tuned……..


























