Friday, April 30, 2010

Ghosts and Graves

My maternal grandmother, Lillie Congdon (little one in the center) with some of her family. (Check out that lighthouse painted in the background!!! I must draw that...)
Lillie was born in 1896. That's her grandmother on her right, her mother in the upper left, and her sister Edna in the front. Edna died at age 17. My Mom is named after her...

Lillie ready to take a dip in front of her old beach house at Point Judith, RI. I could use a swimsuit like that...

Some of my cousin Jon's family grave photos...







My great-grandfathers ~ Lillie's father-in-law (left) and father (right), with her first born, my Aunt Carolyn.

My charcoal is waiting impatiently for me to grab it and get going on more portraits of these marvelous old faces...

My cousin Jon is going to be showing his grave photos along with my portraits. We are thinking of cool ways to do this...

Here are some of my ideas:
What if they were B&W prints?
And/or printed on drawing paper, so they look soft and charcoaly?
What if they were printed and then cut out and collaged on lightweight boards, to look like actual stones?
Or...
(Now I'm getting wacky, but what the heck...)
What if they had frames made of live grassy loam?
Or what if we placed the photos in a plot of grassy loam??
With the geraniums and the little flags...
Or maybe some more pertinent objects, objects from their lives...
Just doing some out in left field thinking...
Join in if you like!!
...and Jon's band might come up and play at the opening!
Jon said maybe they can play some Grateful Dead tunes!
Hee hee!!!!!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

MMP Final Crit























Some images from yesterday's Mixed Media Portraiture Class final crit. I am sad to see this class end! It was such a great group - I will miss them on Tuesday mornings!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Ghosts of Ideas







Time for another on-line studio visit. My son Andy has a stack of old windows from various job sites piled up on our barn foundation and yesterday I pulled six of them out and began to play around with more ideas for my upcoming exhibit.
(Oooh, I really like the reflections of trees in the window panes...)
I've been talking about having these portraits printed on sheer fabric. I wonder how they would look as curtains hung behind these old windows? Or in front? Is the old window too overused ? (Should I care?) Is it too obvious a symbol? You know, windows of the soul, looking through the windows of time...
(Do I care about that if I like what's happening with these??)
Do I have to print these on fabric? Or do I simply use the drawings themselves? Or do I go for the fabric and window "sculptures," and frame the portraits in regular frames as another segment of the exhibit?
I was thinking about burning all these window frames so that they are charred charcoal black. I thought that might be a beautiful strong contrast with the white curtain/ghost/portrait. Burnt windows appeals to me, since my barn and studio burned down...
Hey, I could actually show a few of my burnt drawings in this show. I've never shown them before...
As usual, my head is trotting all around. Need to reign it in.
And as usual, Feedback is WELCOME!