Life is a Great Big Canvas

When I was newly married to Andy, I noticed some old framed prints in my inlaws' house. They were fantasy scenes with still-vivid blues, and neo-classical maidens in flowing white gowns. These belonged to my brother in law, Brad, and from him I discovered the art of Maxfield Parrish, and I have been a devoted follower of this artist-illustrator ever since. Maxfield Parrish was born in 1870 as Frederick Parrish, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but later adopted his mother's maiden name and used it as his first name. His father was a painter and etcher. He discovered his passion for creating art early in life, and trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Drexel Institute of Art. At the age of 27, his career was launched with the illustration of a book by Kenneth Grahame, The Walls Were As of Jasper. From there, he went on to illustrate many books, advertisements, and magazine covers, including Hearst's, Collier's, and Life, as well as to paint mu...

For a time this year, my nudes were placed in a very tasteful lingerie shop, Lilly's Lingerie. Unfortunately, she just closed her shop this week, so this nude was never displayed there. I call it Nude in Reverie. The idea of nudity in art is a controversial one---some love it, some are uncomfortable with it. So I am working on coming up with figures that celebrate the human form in a tasteful way, that more sensitive viewers can enjoy.

 I used to joke that I had the shape of a fertility goddess. Sometimes people would understand and laugh, sometimes people would give me a funny look and scratch their head in confusion. They had no idea what I meant. If you are one who doesn't know what this means, that's okay; let me introduce you to the Venus of Willendorf, a very early piece of art. The Venus of Willendorf is a small nude sculpture of a very ample woman with exaggerated sexuality. She is 4.4” high and made of limestone. She was discovered in 1908 during an archaeological dig near Willendorf, Austria, and now resides at the Naturohistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria. This statue is believed to be one of the earliest pieces of art, and one of the earliest nude women in art. Scientists date her at 28,000 BC to 25,000 BC, during the Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, through a study of the stratigraphic sequence of the area. The oolitic limestone used for her carving is not local to the area w...

This is my project for this week, a semi-realistic male figure. I haven't named him yet, as someone suggested, because after another week or so, he will be recycled back into the clay bucket. It amazes me that I can do this. As I mentioned in the last entry, I did not think I was capable of doing this, yet every week, I find out that YES I CAN! I was wrong! I can sculpt! I am really enjoying this, and thinking that I may want to pursue sculpture further, once this class is over with. You know, sometimes I like finding out I am wrong.

This nude is an exercise in foreshortening. Hopefully we will be done with nudes soon!

This one cracks me up, no pun intended. This is a nude I drew for Figure Drawing. It looks like he is playing Twister naked. I am really temped to put the Twister game underneath him. It looks like a really uncomfortable pose....I wonder if he had to stay like that for very long? 2009, charcoal.

I just finished this nude for week 5 of Figure drawing. Can you see the improvement compared to the other two I did? I am pretty happy with the way this one turned out. I think her right foot could use a little more work which I probably will do later.

Here is my other nude sketch that I just now finished. I am really happy with the way that these turned out.

Three weeks into my college classes at The Academy of Art University and I am loving every minute of it! Currently I am taking Analysis of Form, and Figure Drawing. This piece is one that I just finished a few minutes ago and I am very happy with the way it turned out. It is on 18x24" newsprint and was done in charcoal.