Celestial Quilt

I have done a number of designs for master costumer and fabric artist Lisa Ashton. In 1990 I designed astronomically inspired images for her to quilt. She made some of them in small sizes and one in a large size (about 4 feet x 6 feet) which I still have. This design, which has been retrieved from a very poor photograph, was called "Aurora and Meteor Shower." Lisa made this as a moderately sized quilt and it is probably still in her collection. I've designed quilts for other people, too. These are not easy to make and they are definitely not something you throw over the bed. They hang on the wall like "conventional" paintings on canvas or board. I wouldn't mind designing more quilt work as long as I didn't have to do the quilting.

"Aurora and Meteor Shower" is gouache on illustration board, 6" x 9", spring 1990.

Dancer of the Green Ray

In my little character paintings of the Seven Rays, Green was a dancer. I found an image of famous dancer Carmen de Lavallade to use as my model, and gave her green and copper swirly ribbons to play with. She's floating in the Green Ray dancing to a green rhythm.

I never did an image for the Orange, Yellow, or Light Blue Rays. Those would later become Zoroastrian Immortals. I love spectrum spirituality. There's a book that I read some time ago which envisioned a fairytale world ruled by TWELVE different color gods. People affiliated themselves with up to four different gods, so you had a signature color combination. The book was "The Temple of the Twelve" by an author who called herself "Esmerelda Little Flame." And well gosh, someone's done the art so I don't have to! Here's the "Temple of the Twelve" web site.

"Dancer of the Green Ray" is acrylic on illustration board, 6" x 9", March 1990.

Just Another Naked Woman

You judge a figure drawing by its anatomical accuracy, grace of movement, prettiness, and sense of standing balance. Also important is a feeling of looseness and relaxation, which give the picture a "living" quality rather than just a copy from a photo. This one is from "Art Models 3," and I might just be gaining a little bit of these qualities in my figure drawings. I left some of the original sketchy lines in the drawing to give it a bit of spontaneity, but my doing that when I am drawing from a photo betrays the notion of spontaneity. Also absent is her left arm (she has one, it is just hidden behind her.) And I haven't done much in the "hotness" department. This is an art model study, not a pin-up. Oh well. Only 9800 to go before I've reached the Ten Thousand Figure Drawings level of achievement. That was a made-up statistic, but those of you who know about the "ten thousand" practices thing know what I'm talking about. Maybe next time I'll turn up the babe-ulosity factor a little.

Iris of the Blue Ray

Before "Blu-ray" was an optical disc format delivering your entertainment, it was the Blue Ray of the spiritual Spectrum, radiating peace and order and shining stars. In the early 1990s, along with a continuing series of "New Age" themed small paintings, I did a lot of flower images. I am a garden fan, and though I couldn't have a real dirt garden in my urban apartment, I've always had container plants and an indoor garden under lights. And I will always visit gardens if I can. Virginia in the spring is filled with flowers, from simple dandelions to the majestic German bearded iris that bloom in the middle of May. I did a lot of iris portraits, often with New Age motifs. This is one of them. Irises bloom in blue but the blue is most often tinged with purple. I tried to paint the flowers realistically here, though they are also floating in the spiritual firmament.

"Iris of the Blue Ray" is watercolor on illustration board, 6" x 10", May 1990.

Adventuress

Here's another of my practice attempts at doing a character portrait. I'm also trying to get more familiar with Photoshop layers. Usually when working with these layers I get confused and put stuff on one that belongs on another. This began with a digital line drawing which you can still see in the drawing of the tunic. I'm still learning how to do faces, hair, and skin. I want all my characters to have fabulous hair and of course all the blondes and redheads (that is, most fantasy characters) are naturally that way, no one uses hair dye in fantasy except to disguise themselves. The model here is Pam Anderson of TV and tacky lifestyle fame. Photoshop as usual, January 2011.

Ascended Master Couple

Ideal couples were a big part of the neo-Theosophical seven-ray mythos. Inspired by Greek (Platonic) esotericism, they envisioned souls as only half-complete, needing another soul to match with them to make them whole. This soul was called the "Twin Flame" and everyone was supposed to have one. It was, in the conservative notions of that community, only for males and females; they wouldn't dare think of two male or two female Twin Souls. In the UFO-inspired "Unarius" group, of which I've posted in the past, the various husbands of the leader Ruth "Uriel" Norman were twin souls, as were many of her astral partners. This little study depicts a pair of angelic Twin Flame Souls, ascended masters who come in benign, pale blonde pairs to serve as inspirations and escape fantasies for our broken and chaotic earthly relationships.

The models for these were the famous singing couple Nelson Eddy and Jeannette MacDonald, who made many a song-filled movie in the 1930s.

"Ascended Master Twin Ray Couple" is acrylic on illustration board, 6" x 9", November 1987.

Hairdresser Sketches

Getting my hair done is boring, especially when I'm waiting for the dye to sink in. As they used to say on "Saturday Night Live," it is better to look good than to feel good. I don't have much to read there, so I bring my sketchbook and draw, while the smell of hair dye is pungent in my nose. I draw the bustling hairdressers, the rolling carts with tools and chemicals and towels on them, and the storefront architecture of the place. Sometimes, as you see, I draw my neighbor in the waiting and drying area. She looked a lot better after they washed, dried, and combed out her hair. I don't know whether I could say the same thing for me.

One thing I noticed there were magazines devoted to showing hair styles, which the ladies could look through to get ideas for their own coiffures. I had not thought of these mags as a resource before, but I have been looking for pretty lady faces to draw, and these hair models, in various types of light, will be good practice for my digital portrait faces of beautiful girls. I promptly went to the nearby bookstore and bought a hair mag. So much visual inspiration for me, so little art production.