Atlas Shrugs Forever

Back in the late 1970s I was re-introduced to Ayn Rand's work by some Harvard friends. In 1978, while trying to leave graduate school, I read Rand's famous blockbuster, "Atlas Shrugged." I was energized and thrilled by this book which everyone else but I and my libertarian friends thought was tacky and ridiculous. For me, Rand created a universe where I mattered, where I could decide to be a success, where I could stand up strong and proud in a world of technology and progress. In Randworld, competence and rational intelligence, daring and boundless energy were virtues, not mental problems. I wanted to be a Rand person, and in some ways I still do. I don't care whether it is a mind-cracked fantasy or not, nor that Rand's personal life had few of her own written virtues. And I'm sorry that some public figures use Rand for their own ideological crusades, either for or against the aforementioned ideals. The whole "virtue of selfishness" theme in Rand's work has been distorted and misunderstood, but I am not the person to explain it again and again.

I did a number of character portraits and illustrations for Rand's books, especially "Atlas." This one above is one of the better ones. It's painted in the "portrait montage" style that was used for big, multi-character books at that time. That style of cover is rarely if ever seen today, but I think it still works for Rand's 1959 epic. The painting is amateurish (I was, uh, an amateur) and the photograph is poor, but my ambitions were Randworthy.

"Atlas Shrugged Fantasy" is acrylic on illustration board, 10" x 12", summer 1978.

Queen of the Cats

You know I love cats. I love 'em and draw 'em and when I go over to houses where there are real cats, I make friends with them and listen to them purr. I cannot have a cat of my own because I am allergic to them, and I'm unwilling to care and pay for all the expenses of another living being in my home. So I play with "O.P.C." which stands for "Other People's Cats." Cats are to be worshipped, as they will tell you clearly. And they are also secular royalty too, to be obeyed. Here she is, the Queen of the Cats, wearing her crown made from a single perfect royal purple jewel. I adapted her from a cover illustration from a cat magazine, long ago.

Queen Cat portrait is ink, watercolor, and gouache on Fabriano paper, 4" x 5 1/2", November 1984.

Colors of the Past

This is one of the earliest pieces of my art that I've ever featured on this Weblog. It is from 1969 and is a mix-up of things belonging to Lizzie, my friend at the time, as well as a portrait of her. In those days I always had my sketchbook and a set of colored pencils with me (as I do nowadays, but with the futuristic iPad) and when I did my friend's portrait I added in renderings of her current possessions as a kind of "time capsule." Lizzie lived in New York City, our parents were good friends, and it was always exciting to go visit her family. In the summer of 1969 we even visited them on a European vacation. Lizzie went on to be a financial consultant with a family and children of her own, and as far as I know still lives in New York City.

This "time capsule" has been in my sketchbook collection ever since. From upper left, clockwise: a heart motif from somewhere, Lizzie's portrait, her lipstick (or lip gloss), her teddy bear, a pillow with a cartoony nude, a copy of "Modern Love" magazine, and two 45 RPM records including a Capitol Records release, identified by its familiar orange and yellow spiral. "Modern Love" was a type of girls' magazine that has completely disappeared. It featured racy sex stories about young women. The headline of that cover said "16 - I do the wildest things to boys!"

This "collage" was not typical of my work in the sketchbook. Most of the drawings in there are of superheroes, superhero costumes, attempts at comic book pages, and later in the book a whole lot of life model drawings from about 1970 through 1972. Nothing much changes here at Pyracantha Studios.

Lizzie from 1969 is colored pencil on sketchbook page, 8 1/2" x 11", summer 1969.

Winter Wining at Rapahannock

My winter wine destination for "Wine Saturday" was Rapahannock Cellars, a winery near Front Royal, Virginia. It was a longer journey than I usually do for a wine day, but it was worth it. Every one of the wines on their tasting list had something good about it, and there were no clunkers in the bunch. I was on a quest for Chardonnay and I found what I was looking for. Their Chardonnay is missing the usual sourness and it has a nice sequence of flavors including plenty of soft and mellow oak. I bought a bottle to go with my next chicken dish or crockpot concoction. The tasting staff was very friendly and cheerful especially my humorous host "Andy."

After tasting I sat at their doorway and drew this scene looking through their windows, on my iPad. Many customers had never seen an iPad used for sketching and I got a lot of attention. Rapahannock has a beautiful hilly view of vines and trees and rocks from wherever you stand, and has a nicely done event and dining room as well with spacious windows. It looks good even in the winter and I want to come back when it is all leafy and viney and green.

My picture shows the leafless winter vines in their rows in front of the hillsides in afternoon light. Winter isn't really over; it was a cold and blustery day with sailing clouds and a stray snowflake or two.

Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, about an hour or so. Trees and twigs touched up in Photoshop after downloading to my main system. February 25, 2012.

Sandwich Spring

More folk-art designs adorn my sign decor for "Saint Patrick's" and spring 2012 at Menna's bagel shop. There is no such thing as an "authentic" Celtic look at a deli. I put some shamrocks in at the bottom to remind people of the next monthly contrived holiday. After two years of continuous service, the black-painted framed chalkboard was looking kind of shabby so I re-surfaced it with black chalkboard paint. It looks nice and fresh now, but I'm not sure how long it will last. It's kind of amazing to me that I've done signs for Menna and her store since 2007, almost 5 years. That's a lot of bagels and sandwiches.

Figure Base Monochrome

This model girl looks dark because the drawing is a monochrome base layer on top of which I will paint rosy and flesh tones. Actually the model has quite a tan so I am going to lighten her skin up for this study. I am constantly experimenting with the best or most adaptable way to use Photoshop to render skin tone and texture, without looking too much like a photograph. I want to make sure that I get the shape-defining dark and light areas right before I color her in. I will not put dragons in this picture. Stay tuned for digital flesh.

Photoshop, 10" x 8", started on February 23.

Dragon Lizard Faces

I continue to draw lizard and dragon heads. I want them to be expressive. The one on the upper right is unusually humanoid and I think it might be a human being who was turned into a dragon. The eyes face front which doesn't happen with a lot of reptiles. I just bought a photographic field guide to North American reptiles and amphibians so I can look at the real creatures which so often morph into dragons in our imagination. There are some lizards such as iguanas and "bearded dragons" which already look like dragons, except for their short necks. All the work on dragons has been done by other people over the millennia. All I need to do is keep drawing and copying and drawing and hoping that a dragon will not devour me.

The above set are lizard and dragon heads, adapted lizard heads, ballpoint pen on a small sketchbook page, 6" x 6". February 22-23, 2012. I put the little sketchbook and pen on the kitchen table so I can draw there whenever I want to.