TIME TRAVEL

This week’s portrait, Mrs. Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan)!

While working on the Pee Wee portrait, I was looking at all things from the 1950s so I thought I’d check out that Amazon show that keeps coming up, “The Marvelous Mrs Maisel." I almost turned it off, but within 10 minutes one of my favorite comedians made an appearance, Gilbert Gottfried. Seeing him for 5 minutes made me keep my finger off the remote, hoping to see more of him. As a result, I gave the the show a chance and 20 minutes in, I was hooked. There wasn’t more Gilbert, but the show itself is really good. I found myself binge watching the entire season.

I related to the character whose life suddenly changes and is trying to figure out how to go forward, and in doing so, takes a chance on a skill that she had but never explored before.

(I am trying not to give away the plot, but trust me, it’s worth watching and discovering for yourself.)

The visuals for this show are amazing, and the main character looks like the stereotypical1950’s housewife with a personality that belongs in the 2010s. For this art piece, I limited the colors to reds and pinks so that the blue eyes would pull you in. And I also used graphic elements from the show’s credits to tie it together.

The last few weeks I’ve become so focused on my art that there have been evenings I forgot to have dinner. I know, not healthy, but I am so excited about putting my time into something I really enjoy that time passes too quickly.

Almost forgot to mention, Vicki Chase was incredible as an art model this past weekend. As Naughty Santa, she looked liked a Alberto Vargas or Gil Elvgren 1950s pinup model. I did some really interesting drawings.

It’s interesting how everything this past week tied into the 1950s. Pee Wee took me back in time and now I have to get back to the future!

I wonder if this was how Doc Brown felt as he was building his time machine. You know you’re onto something amazing.  

 

You just have to stay inside, lock the door, create, and when you’re ready, show people some serious shit!

 

TODAY'S SECRET WORD IS, "QUICKSAND!"

This week’s portrait is Pee Wee Herman!

I recently rewatched the Pee Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special. This show is ageless, I think it’s still as funny today as it was during the release in 1988. My dad was still with the family then, and often he’d sit and watch Pee Wee’s Playhouse with my brother and me. We weren’t young kids, but that didn’t matter when it came to Pee Wee. The humor transcended age. I would record the show on VHS tapes and try to leave out the commercials- which always ended up with recording too soon and getting the tail end of some product endorsement or recording too late and missing those great seconds back from commercials. Now for $26.49, I can have the entire series minus commercials. All those VHS tapes and editing time spent with the tv remote, wasted!

I loved the show's 1950s retro look. It was very much a part of the show’s appeal including the characters themselves, and in doing this portrait of Pee Wee, I wanted to capture that feeling. The pouting mouth was a bit of a challenge; I didn’t think it would be at first. But I am happy with the end result. All those crazy little circles.

Someday, a time may come when some scientists will look at my art and realize the secret to the meaning of the universe is in the designs. Yes, the universe has been secretly whispering the meaning of everything to me, and unknowingly, I’ve been translating it into a language using circles.

Or maybe it’s some sort of self discovery. By drawing all these circles, I am being drawn or pulled towards some new level of awareness. Or maybe, it’s all meaningless, just some artistic visual fetish that seems to have caught my attention and won’t let me go, kind of like "quicksand!"

That topic is not about to go away anytime soon!

(You know what I'm talking about :) )