Post Apocalypse Self Portrait

Still no rain here in the north San Francisco BAY area, but we’ve just weathered another apocalyptic fire. Everyone’s talking about it – how to prepare for the next one. . .we all believe there will be the next. . .or how to get out of Dodge and go somewhere there will be no environmental disasters. And where is that elusive Shangri La?

It seemed like a good time to pull out the old zany self portrait lesson in Muse Group. To avoid having to look at ourselves in the mirror and trying to draw ourselves, we just clowned in front of the computer to capture our very own comic strip character and went about painting and collaging the marvelous emotional entanglement that is our lives at the moment. Just that. Nothing deep and analytic or prophetic. Just one in an infinitude of selves we carry around all the time.

Here’s what popped out on my paper this time.

Collage on acrylic painted background with a Photo Booth Comic Strip-filtered selfie.

Post Apocalypse Self Portrait

Aargh! What a place to call home.

So beautiful it makes your heart ache

so treacherous…… it makes your heart ache.

I want to move and I can’t bear to.

I want to stay and grow old – er, but can I bear it?

the fires the floods and heaven forbid the earthquakes

But the bees and butterflies, they stay

as do the birds

and our cats

and the flowers and trees bloom and fruit each year

and. . .

we will not leave

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Muse Group Selfies!

Some of you probably think that we do serious art in the mixed media painting group I lead. And you’re right! We just finished up an 8-week series of lessons where we explored window imagery, coffee and tea stained designs, sgraffito and zany self portraits!

The portraits were perhaps the most un-serious of our works. You decide for yourself. Here are the Musers’ own self portrait musings. Have you ever seen so much glamour in one place, short of the Academy Awards!?

self portrait by Ruth

self portrait by Patricia

self portrait by Pat

self portrait(s) by Nancy

self portrait by Muriel

self portrait by Denise

self portrait by Brigette

 

As you can tell, the teacher did not give any specific instructions here. We did however take advantage of the Comic Strip filter in the PhotoBooth program in my computer to pose, print out and use our images as a starting point for serious (ahem) self searching contemplations. In case you missed it, I posted my own selfie a few weeks ago here. I like to think each new self portrait should reveal a different one of our many secret selves.

As the Muse Group proceeds I like to hang my demos on the wall before putting them in portfolio books with the writings. The wall is full right now. Time to switch up and make room for this current session.

This is a good time to try out the Muse Group if you’re interested. There’s space this time around to try it out on a drop in basis or to return, see your Muse friends and get a renewal of that creative energy. For more info, times and dates, visit my website.

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acrylic inks, image transfers on w/c paper, 10 X 11″

DO NOT DISTURB

She’s downloading a map.  She’d hoped for a simpler one.  And then she got distracted and had to start over again. That has happened so many times in her life!  With all the detours along the way, it’s a wonder she’s found herself even this far along.

DO NOT DISTURB

She may be here a while, lips pursed in concentration.  Hopefully she’ll discover there’s fun to be had where all pretense of solving life’s thorny questions has been abandoned.

I have tried a great many image transfer methods over the past few years, but I really love the “instant” transfer method using matte medium, which I learned from the Golden website.

I have a toner copy machine in my studio, so in my group we can copy any black and white image, either from a printed photograph, book, or printed off a free internet site.  For this piece I used a picture of myself mugging for the camera in Photo Booth (built into my computer) with the comic strip filter applied.  I cut out what I wanted from the picture, then printed out a children’s game board image from a free internet site for parents (found by Googling “Mazes”) and transferred both images together onto the painted surface.

It’s wasn’t a surprise to find that this piece seemed to illustrate some of the issues in the book I’m currently reading The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brains by Nicholas Carr.  Our brains are getting worked by our addiction to the Internet in new ways, both exciting and disturbing. As with most confusing life issues, my answer is Make Art of it.

Color Me Purple

acrylic on w/c paper, 10 X 10″

Color Me Yellow came first. Then Color Me Green.  And now Color Me Purple.  The process is to pose for Photo Booth on my Mac computer using the Comic Strip filter, print it out in black and white, transfer the lines onto paper, pick a dominant color and paint fast!

I hate to admit it but this one has actually captured a bit of my likeness.  Hmmmm.  Guess that means purple is my color?  I like lavender but generally shun darker purple because it reminds me of those ladies who dress in purple with red hats and call themselves “Red Hatters”.  Find for them, but I’m not ready for that yet (even though I guess I’m the right age).