"The Lady Eve"
Sometimes the most desperate places are the most self-reflecting. I am not in what I would call a "happy place" in my life. I have not felt this hopeless in a long time. Yet the highlights of my day include the hug I received from an eleven-year-old girl I've been giving private art lessons and coming back to this blog and finding people are still looking at it, even though I haven't been writing in it.
I picked up the artwork you see above from a local exhibition today, and these exhibitions are almost carbon-copy experiences for me; the weirdest pieces almost always win. I like abstract, modern art myself and have even done some of my own, but when the winning piece is a black image with white specks, well . . . I just don't get it! Regardless of feeling unrecognized in the juried art world, I feel appreciated virtually anywhere else my art goes. I mean that. That's why I'm back on here; I know people are looking and I need to show my appreciation by offering something new to see.
This is a graphite drawing on 9x12 plastic. Yes, that sounds strange, but I found the plastic from the printing store where I teach art lessons; it has just enough fine texture to hold ink. When I was doing a new experience each week in 2009, I found some of that plastic rolled up in a garbage when I was closing the store, and thought, "This is too pretty to be in the garbage; I wonder if I could draw on this?" It had a sheen that reminded me of a movie screen.
I experimented that night and found the plastic took pencil very well. I did a few small drawings before starting this 9x12 piece, which I didn't finish until about a year and a half later.
I'll tell you the only thing harder than a portrait is two portraits, especially a man and a woman! The figures must not only be in correct proportion, but must also perfectly match each other, so one is not too big or too small. This picture is all freehand (meaning I didn't use a projector or any kind of tracing device) and it is based on a movie still from a 1941 film, "The Lady Eve." I found the picture in a Hallmark book called, "Perfect Pairs," by Hulton Getty. It has classic Hollywood couples in black and white movie stills. If you guessed this is Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda, you are right!
It might be well before my time, but I love the photo. In fact, all the better to love it; I could hardly resist the highlights in Barbara's sequined dress. I love how Henry Fonda looks like he doesn't know whether to stay or to go.
Surprisingly, Barbara Stanwyck's face was far more difficult to draw than Henry Fonda's! Being female, a woman's face is far easier to draw because it is more familiar. However, her face is at an angle where you can only see parts of her nose and mouth; in fact, if you look very carefully, there is just a hint of her left nostril beside the shadow of Henry Fonda's cheekbone. I didn't originally draw it because I didn't see it, but without it, her face seemed too flat.
I don't have a very favorite piece of my artwork, but this is definitely one of my favorites.
Even though the juror of the art show gave the award to the white specks, that is never the point of entering shows. Today was a hard day because I feel like I've been witness to far too much injustice lately. For a moment it made me wonder if all my efforts are for nothing. The only thing I know is I have never regretted NOT giving up. I could spend my whole life drawing portraits like these that hang in some hidden corner while white specks gets the blue ribbon, and I would never regret it.
After all, I have been blessed to even create works like this. I have a seven-year-old niece who wants to be an artist and a teacher when she grows up, which helps me to feel like I've been a good example.
I hope my work reflects an example of not giving up.
