Well, crap

My Woody Guthrie piece might as well not even exist because I have neither it nor photographic evidence of it.

"Say whaaa?"

The Memphis Minnie Post

I will write on this soon, promise. 

As yet, untitled

More wonderful words to come...

Back when we did Mississippi John Hurt

My interpretation of MJH.

This is a drawing I did of Mississippi John Hurt, back when we were inundated with his music. I hold steady to the self-evident truth that he is awesome. In videos of him, his presence seems so small, yet transcendent, as if his stripped down style of performance says much more than it initially seems to. 

In creating this piece, I was inspired by Professor Dubovsky's way of pausing YouTube videos during class and noting that each image displayed during the pause was unique. So I paused the video of MJH singing "Lonesome Valley" to obtain an image that was suspended in motion--his mouth stuck, open, waiting for the next lyric. I drew this image on a large brown piece of paper, using black, white, and grey chalk pastels. Professor Dubovsky called this a "Cubist Mississippi John Hurt" when it was on the wall during class, and I can see what he means; the pastel strokes--particularly the white--form blocks of definition on his face that aren't blended for coherence. I've realized that this works in opposition to the nature of this medium (as it is so readily blend-able) but I think that this quality is what makes the work noteworthy. People in class said it looked painted. Paint would make more sense as the medium used for a Cubist work. (Not to say that my drawing is definitively "Cubist.") 

I generally like this drawing--if that matters--even though the distinguishable blocks in the face make it look distorted. I've been researching for this paper I have to write for my anthro seminar, and it's basically going to be about how "art" expresses information in a way that is different from the way language expresses information. I'm citing an article that claims that art communicates a message about the unconscious, or that people create art to "say" things that they can't say with language. Maybe this is why I distorted MJH's face. Maybe hearing him sing triggered something in my unconscious that I had to express through a drawing, which ended up looking untrue to life. I don't know. This probably makes no sense. 

close-up

Down by the Sally Gardens with Yeats!

12"x 24" Acrylic on canvas

This song interested me because it was written by Yeats, and I generally like his poetry. The lyrics to this song seem different from his poetry, though. They are flowery and indulgent, and about something very obvious. But that's okay. I painted a flowery, indulgent garden in which a removed looking Yeats sits in a wooden chair with his legs crossed. I painted him in grey-tone because I wanted to make him look as if he doesn't belong in the scenery. 

Look at this rough beast!

I did some research on the history of the song so I could find out what the "Sally Gardens" actually look like, but to no avail. They are apparently "on the banks of the river at Ballysadare near Sligo" (thanks Wikipedia!), but who knows what that's supposed to look like. So I made it up. I used this new extra heavy gel medium which was fun because it made the paints all thick and stuff. I don't really like painting "nature", but I did a lot of it with my fingers, so that made it enjoyable. 

SIDE NOTE: Ollie Gilbert's version of "Barbry Allen" was great. Who is this person, anyway? Must find out more...

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot!

I realize I am a bit behind on this...but I am very pleased with how this turned out.

12"x12" Acrylic on canvas

This is a portrait of Paul Robeson, inspired by his version of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." I was very impressed and inspired by Paul Robeson's history as the son of a former slave. As a man with a humble upbringing, he pretty much conquered the world. As an athlete, scholar, performer, and social activist, he was an inspiration to all.

This painting is meant to depict Robeson looking upwards, waiting for his "chariot." I painted this from a photo, in which Robeson was wearing some fancy-looking clothes, but I changed his attire so it looks simpler, and placed him against the background of a field and a blue sky. As the song by which this was inspired was originally a slave song, I wanted to depict Paul Robeson in the role of a slave, embodying the pain that he expresses so poignantly with his voice.

This is a quick pencil sketch I did of him--he has a wonderfully drawable face.

Things that inspire me: Egon Schiele

I hope no one cares that I am going to make some unrelated posts in here. This is a post dedicated to my favorite artist--Egon Schiele, an expressionist painter who lived from 1890-1918. I want to post some paintings of his that I love.

Brace yourself for creepy, twisted, naked people.

Why I like this painting: (1) Why are the legs and arms pink? (2) The harshly defined black lines, especially on her right elbow (3) The bluish color on the ribs and stomach 

How can I find these things consistently beautiful even if they aren't necessarily meant to be aesthetically pleasing?

This was my desktop background for awhile--total mistake. I would end up staring at it forever and getting nothing done. Please. The skin colors are so strange and amazing. The reds and blues are unrealistic, but they tell me so much about these two people. And I love the perspective on the woman's face.

I don't care about landscapes. They bore me to tears. This landscape is different. It's stylized and there are distinct lines visible in the sunset. One tree is almost bare while the rest are leafy. He paints the sky with the same care and attention he gives to painting skin.

This could go on indefinitely. I'll stop now.

Egon Schiele--The Complete Works

Spirituals

I listened to the three spirituals last night to find inspiration for my next drawing, and the one that affected me most was Mississippi John Hurt's "Since I Laid My Burden Down." I had to listen to it a few times because I liked it so much, and I made my roommates listen to it too. It gave me some mixed emotions but really made me think about death, which led me to draw this, which is supposed to be a dead version of me.

I like that it looks kind of peaceful, as the song made me feel peaceful yet unsettled at the same time. I might add more to this piece in due time...

First Post

Hi, I'm Taylor and this is my first post for Visual Studies 185X. I just finished my first piece for this class, and I based it off of our first song, "You Are My Sunshine." I decided to paint a portrait of my best friend Eliza, because she is pretty much my "sunshine." We share a room, so we see each other every day, and her face is more familiar to me than my own. I've been using her as a subject for my artwork since high school, so she is used to posing for drawings and seeing my creative interpretations of her.

That is the finished product. I think it looks moderately like her, not that it really matters, as I don't tend to strive for realism. It looks kind of cartoon-y, which I like. I used acrylic paints on a 24"x24" canvas. I was really unhappy with the painting when I started; I first sketched Eliza's face from life, and once I put down some color, the skin tone was all wrong and I had to rework it by painting over the whole face. This is the point where I started to feel good about the piece:

I really like the hands in this "in-progress" shot. 

Also, the background is meant to be a not-so-subtle display of sunshine-y colors, with yellow emanating from behind Eliza's head.

As I mentioned, I initially drew her from life, but I also took a photo of her for reference, because she would not have been able to sit for me for the many hours it took me to paint this. Here is that photo:

She's my favorite :)