Rockin' The Shadow

Moon Rock Self, I, II, III, IV, V

Aqua Siren

I drew with my students while Ahna Reichman posed for my Mixed Media Portraiture class this morning. She said that her red wig was part of a full mermaid costume, but she not have it with her, so decided in its place, to wear this dress. After yesterday's post, how could I resist drawing this aquabelle with her blue mussel shell bedecked wig??

(photo sent to me from Ahna's phone - a little blurry, but you get the gist...)

The colors in my drawing echo the colors in this fabric and these mandala magnets that are sitting on my sewing table right now... funny how colors can pop up and follow us around...

The painting behind Ahna was against the wall and we decided to put it on the stage as a backdrop becuase it echoed the colors in her wig and outfit. It belongs to a talented MECA student (I know not who...if any of my readers can solve this mystery, I'd be obliged!). Ahna remarked that she was in a friend's studio the night before admiring a painting of hers with the same color scheme...

Funny, too, how a mermaid can follow one around. There was one at the top of yesterday's post, and she swam into my class today....sans beard...

Dishin' It Up

We have the best models at Maine College of Art. Ahna Reichman modeled for my Mixed Media Portraiture class Tuesday in one of her costumes from her performance troupe, The Dirty Dishes. She was dressed as a cross between Repressed and Liberated Woman, and her outfit sparked a great dialogue that provided grist for the collage mill. Everyone had alot of fun with it!

Fifteen Fridas

Fifteen photographic portraits of Frida Kahlo, some familiar, some not so familiar. These are all taken from the book that I refered to in yesterday's post, Frida Kahlo: Portraits of an Icon, with text by Margaret Hooks. About Kahlo's ornate indigenous costumes, Hooks writes:

For Frida, clothes were a means of communication with the outside world and every day she selected from her lexicon the elements that would best represent the image she wanted to project. Some of those who had the privilege of watching her dress describe it as being present at a cross between a ceremonial ritual and the creation of a work of art, particularly if she was preparing to receive a photographer arriving for a session. Frida selected from a wardrobe of an enormous array of clothes from all over the Mexican republic. Choosing combinations from a vast assortment of skirts, blouses and belts, dresses, shawls and petticoats, all in a wide variety of colours and textures, plus footware that ranged from pointed-toed cowboy boots, to huarache sandals and even, her one concession to western style, four-inch high-heeled pumps. She sometimes took hours over the process carefully choosing and combining items of clothing after making sure that each item was in perfect condition. She thought nothing of making adjustments on the spot with a needle and thread or having one of her servants re-press an item that had the slightest rumpled pleat. If in any doubt about the final overall effect, she would ask the opinion of those she trusted as to whether it looked good, and start all over again if it did not.