Inspiration from my garden

Tulip Leaves, 2005

Occasionally, but not often these days, my photography gives way to my artistic impulses. Here is an image I created with animation in mind. Unfortunately my ability and inclination to animate has largely remained dormant. I shared this image on Facebook, largely because it falls in time and subject matter with photos I'd been posting there. You can follow this link to see what I have there. You may have to log into Facebook if you are not already registered there before.

The Inspiration of art books from the Seattle Public Library

The Seattle Public Library is a wonderful resource for inspiration. These three images came from books I checked out from the library, only I couldn't tell you now what the books were. The blocky image of the two children holding hands and the slightly Mesopotamian figure wearing the leaf shift were taken from a graphic novel I didn't bother reading, only flipping through the pages and thinking why would someone attempt to tell such a confusing story. 

As I remember, the artist and writer don't stick in my mind well, but I do remember finding the artwork crude, the coloring basically green and greyish throughout, and something eerie about these images caused me to copy them down in my sketchbook. The child's face in the lower right seemed to express the discomfort the other images brought me, but I think that was based on a photograph. Unfortunately I don't remember the details very well.

Archaic Grecian Statuary - nudity alert

For those of you looking for the naughty stuff in my sketchbooks, you won't likely find it here. I put the disclaimer on this blog because I discuss gender and sexuality here, but I have posted before about where I am posting the naughty stuff and if you care to see it, it is not difficult to find. And anyone really wishing to engage with my naughty drawings can easily contact me directly. I would love to share them with you.

Anyway, you will see nudity here occasionally, but mostly non-sexualized nudity. For example, these sketches from a photobook of Grecian funeral statuary. The head of a young man, examining the contours of how the hair is rendered and a Kouros or full standing figure. I saw several of these latter statues while visiting the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City back in the summer of 1989.

Besides an impressive collection of antiques, they also had an impressive sampling of Modern Painters and other artist's works, namely a very large Monet's Waterlilies which took up a full wall of the upstairs gallery and modern sculpture like Duane Hanson's "Security Guard", which I thought was very appropriate in a contemporary art museum.  I wish I'd had a weeks time to investigate the whole building, but of course these days they have more buildings.