Medley of Music and Art

16x20 inches, acrylic with elements of collage

The Janesville Art League is very lucky to have gallery space available at the Janesville Performing Art Center. Members hang their work there for several weeks, and it can be seen by audiences of a number of performing groups who use the facility.  The Art League recently decided to make each exhibit have a theme, and the first one, which will be hung on Monday, is Medley of Music and Art.  

That's pretty broad, but I realized that I had nothing new to put in the show that fit into the theme's requirement.  I did a watercolor of a fiddler for a Joe Fettingis workshop three years ago, but that painting has been shown several times, and I donated it to a silent auction fundraiser last week.  So, I decided to work on a version of a photo I took at the Madison Farmers Market last fall.  I always carry my camera, and there was a group of ladies all decked out in dresses, fancy flowered hats, and anti-war buttons.  One of the rather large group held a picket sign that read "War is a Racket," and they were singing their hearts out.

I decided to give this subject, singing war protesters, a go.  This is pretty large for me, a 16x20 inch canvas.  I started by ripping up some pages of an old paperback of front pages of New York Times with coverage of several wars.  Then I layered over bright colors that I imagined would be the complements of the main colors I intended to use.  Then came a sketch with charcoal pencil, more acrylic, more layering of prepared collage papers - this time sheet music as well as news coverage.  Then I decided to add some flowers from a calendar for the ladies' hats.  I didn't add their picket sign, but I did include the peace sign necklace that one singer sported that day to suggest the nature of their songs.

The results are bright and decorative.  Not all the figures turned out as well as I hoped, but a couple of the women had the feel I was trying for.  I am rather fond of the two figures in red hats because I enjoy their expressions.  The poor dear on the far left caused me no end of grief, so I minimized her as best I could.  

I'm looking forward to seeing what other people came up with for this show.

Post Script

On Monday I delivered and hung the painting with the others at JPAC.  Another artist looked at the image, and said, "Oh, those are the Raging Grannies." She had also seen them at the Madison farmers market, but told me that the group is international, that there are chapters all over the US and Canada.  They dress up in stereotypical "granny" hats and dresses, then sing about a variety of social justice issues.  I did a Google search and enjoyed reading about their activities highlighting peace and environmental issues around the country.

Just Ducky

The days recently have been glorious here in southern Wisconsin, pleasantly warm, sunny, and not too humid.  So yesterday we took off for a day trip to the Wollersheim Wintery, rode the Merrimac ferry, and saw a wonderfully entertaining flick (8 MM) at Budget Cinema in Madison.  I took lots of pretty pictures of the vineyard and the Wisconsin River, but this was the most surprising and fun sight of the day.  Parked at a strip mall on Odana Road I was this older Toyota, covered all over, fore and aft,  with rubber ducks.  I convinced my husband to slow down and cruise by so I could capture this duck-mobile.  Someday I will have my camera with me when I see the car here in town covered with livestock.  One never knows what shape creativity will take!

Go Figure

I returned to figure drawing studio after taking a couple weeks off for travel, and recovery from travel. Getting over to Whitewater takes about a five hour commitment by the time I pack up, drive there, clean up and drive home again.  Still, I always have a good time, and I am getting fond of the quick draws in particular,  I find that the longer I labor over a drawing the less I enjoy it, and that shows inthe results.  This is an initial five minute pose, done with conte crayon.

I arrived late, so found myself off to the side, with lots of foreshortened views.  Still, I like the challenge.

Our model Linda always poses in yoga outfits, and I find that drawing a clothed model is just as interesting as an undraped one, and perhaps the atmosphere in the room is a bit more relaxed as well.

I spent a little longer on this, though it really doesn't look it, except for the addition of watercolor to the conte crayon.

I asked and got permission to photograph some of her poses.  I figure next winter when I am too chicken to drive over I will have some of a favorite model to use.