As usual when I need to take a break, out comes another Marilyn-inspired study. Here is the latest…a somewhat old one I finally touched up from my sketchbook.
Marilyn Monroe Candid Profile
September 25, 2010 By 5 Comments
New drawing I churned out after work last night. Marilyn’s image used to be stressful and overwhelming to work with. Finally, working with her image has become a soothing practice…now that it’s been a few years, and I’ve read more books than I can count on the dame. I also decided to add a process shot as well.
Before:
In process shot...
"Candid Marilyn Profile" 9/2010
Crying like…a Teenager.
July 8, 2010 By 3 Comments
Brenda Walsh is Crying, Once More! Mixed Media. 7/2010
Crying affects all of our lives. Whether its around you, or it’s your own self…you can’t ignore the cry. Sure, you can repress it. Sure, you can fake it, but most of the time..you can’t control it. Unless of course you are an actor, and more importantly, an actor in a teen TV show. In that case, you are a pro.
I don’t think anyone cries more than the characters in teen TV soaps/dramas. Whether their lives are actually dramatic (Beverly Hills, 90210, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or they just teen-perspective dramatic (My So-Called Life)…there’s always the drama…and with the drama, come the tears. Teens are in transitions with everything, and crying certainly is one of them. They are no longer ‘children’ that are somewhat oblivious to crying etiquette, and not quite adults who are aware of the social role of crying, and have that structure embedded in their systems.
There is a freedom in crying as a teen. You know more about what is worth crying about. You also know more about how crying affects other people, you know how to work it, and you have the freedom to get away with not caring when its ‘inappropriate’. You are still, ‘just a kid’, but you have those pesky ‘adult’ (seeming) problems. You are totally free to cry over being stood up on a date like half your family was murdered. That’s power. Teen crying is epic, so no wonder TV producers love it so damn much.
Ode to awesome teen tv crying take 1 : Beverly Hills 90210
Oh no! Brenda Walsh is Crying Again
June 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment
So my Beverly Hills, 90210: Teen Pop Culture & Trauma series is finally getting underway. This is my first body of work I am premiering in Boston. I have a lot of work ahead of me. My drawing/paintings skills are definitely rusty, and it will take a lot of work to churn out images of the quality I want. This is perfect, because this is a body of work I am insanely passionate about doing…which exactly the kick I needed to get my art game back on.
As a teen, my favorite TV shows had a huge impact on my life. When my life unlike that of my surrounding peers, I was able to connect with them week to week on relating to our favorite shows. The shows also worked as an escape, and as friend. For me, it was Buffy Summers, always feeling like the world was going to end, or someone might die. This TV show of vampires and teenage heroines felt more like my life/what I was feeling than anything else around me. Also, those undead metaphors made it easier for me to deal with the actual dead…but let’s not go into vampire studies now.
I was too young to be of the original Beverly Hills, 90210 generation. The show’s lifespan was the entire decade of the ’90s. The show has now recently been syndicated for SoapNet, where at any given day the show airs not once, not twice, but four times. Also, don’t forget the CW’s new version, 90210 reaching out to a new generation of fans, while still featuring a few of the original’s iconic characters. For a few overlapping generations in the U.S, it’s very difficult for someone not to have an opinion on this show.
Beverly Hills, 90210 was the first U.S. soap opera specifically aimed at teens. It straddled chronicling the epically dramatic relationships and friendships of the cast, along with topical teen issues. Any sort of problem or lesson tended to be solved in an episode. No matter what, these privileged teens prevailed against their trials and tribulations. Things always end up okay, at least for the main characters. The candy-coated nature of the show makes difficult issues digestible. You end up seeing the Beverly Hills, 90210 version of life’s difficulties. ….and it’s ridiculous. Yet your brain prefers the ridiculous and the colorful over the cruel and painful. So does the American public.
Why else would we love seeing Brenda/Shannen Doherty cry so much? We love to see her cry, and for our own reasons, we need it. We need our hollywood versions of teen pain. So, it’s time for some paintings of this. Cry Brenda Cry!
- Above. “Brenda Walsh is Crying, I”
New Marilyn Study.
June 14, 2010 By 1 Comment
I am trying to draw more and more…to just…build up my skillz. When breaking from my teen-drama/Beverly Hills 90210 work, Marilyn is my fantastic fallback subject to do studies of.
So here’s a recent .
Golden Globes
Revised “Just Judy” Drawing.
November 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Before my show, I went back into an older Judy Garland piece I hadn’t initially felt happy with. Here is the before and after.
Ink, marker, acrylic, and pastel on paper. 2008-2009. Look at me, all…..going back into works.
