Twisted Passions - Twisted Art: October 2016

Creating Beauty

As a child, I was frightened by a humongous Kissy doll. At 3, it was as big as I was and when you pulled it's hands together it made a smacking or a supposed kissing sound. I was sure it would get up and get me......making smacking sounds as it neared my bed.

Now I make dolls.....some are supposed to be scary, but most just reflect how I look at beauty. To me we have a very narrow view of what beauty is and is not. I have cerebral palsy and don't think I'm whining about it I'm not. I'm lucky my case is very mild compared to some people's. But you can pick me out as different, I walk awkwardly, but my arm and leg work correctly.....for someone with a partially paralyzed arm and leg.

I look like someone with CP is supposed to and in my way I'm attractive. I try to reflect alternative beauty in the dolls I create and so in some ways I'm still dealing with fear, but now it's not my own.

Monday, October 17, 2016

What you hope when you start painting.....and what you get.

Sol Saucedo-Butzke - our model at open studio this past Saturday inspired me to look up Jesus Helguera a Mexican painter who I always liked.

I always liked his pretty women in traditional clothing. Now I realize my style of painting is hardly idealized realistic in nature like Helgeura's, but I thought attempting a different style would be interesting. Well, the blank wall put me off, so I rescued the striped blanket and made it the backdrop.

Yes, so much for good intentions. So you see the painting I ended up with.

I wasn't too surprised when my finished piece was more like something Matisse would have done.

Which when I think about is okay too. I just couldn't bear paint a relatively barren(at least to me) brownish background. I'm a firm believer in using the model and their environment as a jumping off point.

I am what I am....a colorist at heart.

Does your nature as an artist sabotage your good intentions?