2009 January - Part 2

Archive for January, 2009

Jan

KISS my What?

Posted by: Susie | Comments (4)

In the presence of my husband, if someone says “kiss my ass”, he quickly says, “mark a spot, you are all ass”

Here is Paul Stanley, guitarist from KISS - born in Queens in 1952 and a legendary rock figure, writing and co-writing a majority of their famous chart busting hits. It was with Paul’s encouragement that KISS took off their makeup sometime in the 80’s. Paul has a birthday coming up on Inauguration day, he will be 57 and still looking pretty good!

It’s tough for many to take off their make-up because we are a society driven by the anorexic look, face lifts, fat lips and boob jobs. What are we recognized for, is it our appearance, talent, brains or looks?

We have all heard Oprah whining lately about how upset she is with her appearance, she needs to loose weight by the Inauguration….. give me a break! I’ve got news for Oprah, many people would like to be employed, or be able to pay their bills on time. A worry such as 15 pounds should never throw us into such a tail spin.

We have stereo typical images of bad boys, dumb blondes, sex symbols, geeks, business men, career women and so on…Take off that stereo typical make up, there are so many things you can obsess over, other than appearance, I have battled my weight for many years, up 20, down 10, up 5, down 1.. I can’t physically keep up my “goal” as set by the Weight Watchers standards.

I am setting my own goal, it’s where I feel comfortable, where things fit that I like. Strive to be the best you can, don’t strive to be someone else, or look like someone else, because, underneath all that stereo typical make-up, there very well may be botox, silicione and alot of stitches & scars.

A great example of the not being stereo typical is Diane Keaton, she is who she is, and she is a beautiful woman!

To the rest, well.. KISS my…

Categories : Blogging, Pencil Sketches, celebrities

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Jan

What can you do with old?

Posted by: Susie | Comments (4)

What can you do with old?

I am not talking issues related to Lipitor, or those old left overs that have grown mold that we may be able to turn into antibiotics, I am talking another persons junk can be your treasure.

Here is a door that I swear must have been used for those little people that lived under the stairs. I know there was a movie like that, before the one that John Goodman starred in - The Borrowers..but for the life of me, I can’t remember it.

so.. back to the drawing which I just realized the glare on it..stinks! But..so be it ! I did this very 3 Dimensional, using dried grass..and birch bark if you take a look at the birch tree on the right of the screen…the bark was not painted, it is hot glued on..and it’s real. Thanks Joseph Standing Bear.

The sand on the walkway is actual sand that I collected in the dust pan after my husband decided he needed to tar the cracks in the foundation outside our steps.. and the only way to sop it up was sand….but that sand was tracked in my house and used in the painting.

The dried grass at the very bottom left is real another brain child of mine that has gone mutant. I planted pampas grass…pa—my ass it should be..it’s every where, and invasive.. I highly recommend against it, unless you have an old door that a fraction of the grass can be used.

This piece was done with two pieces of cardboard that I used as my canvas. I used cardboard that was used to ship an auto-scrubber. Yes..you read it right.. an auto scrubber.

The legs that my husband made to support the old door were made from old pieces of base board that would have gone in the garbage or been burned.

So there you have it.. thats what you can do with old!

Categories : Recycle, paintings

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Jan

He Danced - Patrick Swayze

Posted by: Susie | Comments (3)

He danced into our lives 20 years ago, with Dirty Dancing, I can’t believe it was that long ago..

I remember seeing Swayze in “Red Dawn” in 1984 - and for some reason last night, I remembered a line he had in that movie -

C’mon! We’re all going to die, die standing up!

A few years back, I had a discussion with a character I referred to as “Captain Chaos” and it was in regards to dying - it was regarding my friend that was told she was terminal, I said to Chaos, “I can’t imagine what it is like to wake up each morning knowing that” He looked at me quizzically and said, “it’s going to happen to all of us” Coming from someone who as by his nickname, I didn’t expect those words, but how damn true is that.

Patrick Swayze is living his life now with strength and drive, I have to say he was inspirational, scared out of his wits I am certain, but he is living now, for what he loves, for the passion that is within him.

Looking at his gaunt and sunken eyes, you can see fatigue and yet he pulls it together to continue doing what he loves for as long as he can. Do we really know what fatigue is these days?

We waste so much time on materialistic nonsense, petty arguments and trivial bull shit and for what? Is it fulfilling? Just watch the nightly news….scandel, scandel, scandel. Why? Everyone wants to have more or be more than the next person.

We shouldn’t wait to be in a situation like Patrick Swayze to get to the core of who we are and living for what we love.

“What winning is to me is not giving up, is no matter what’s thrown at me, I can take it, and I can keep going.” Patrick Swayze

Categories : Pencil Sketches, celebrities

Comments (3)

Jan

What happened to Sexy?

Posted by: Susie | Comments (5)

Sexy? A state of mind, person or place that makes us think someone else is sexy? I was reading news of Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler and walking down memory lane of old celebrities that as a young teen I thought were so hot that I’d forge their autographs on the Teen Beat Centerfolds and proudly hang them on my wall.

This picture depicts Mickey Rourke in 9-1/2 weeks and Kim Bassinger as she hangs on his every breath with weak knees, along with another hottie of current days, Vin Diesel - the boy with the biceps and full of attitudability. Is it what people wear, how they carry themselves, a certain body part that our eyes convince our emotions that they are sexy?

What happened to Sexy?

Mickey Rourke was extremely sexy, from 9-1/2 weeks to Harley Davidson & The Marlboro Man, he had that bad boy attitudability…the attitude that takes away a womans ability to resist, he still has attitude, but the looks have drastically changed.

If beauty is in they eye of the beholder, are we fickle beholders when we see a recent photo of a Leif Garrett, Mickey Rourke or Jeff Conway? Or have our tastes just changed over the years? What happens to sexy? If we take an actor or actress for the merits of their fame, are we being shallow when their looks are lost with time and we no longer find them sexy?

When we mature, sexy matures with you, when you alter it, people know you have altered it, and the illusion is lost. Altering yourself to re-capture your youth, rarely works, your “audience” is aging with you….

We all change over time, are we more likely to think one is sexy still when we see the changes happen slowly?

Categories : Pencil Sketches, celebrities

Comments (5)

Jan

The Gift

Posted by: Susie | Comments (4)

Watching as you softly sleep
What I’d give if I could keep Just this moment
if only time stood still.

Jim Brickman - The Gift

I did this pencil sketch of a woman and her cat during the holiday season and the entire story is really “The Gift”, it was clear when I turned on the ipod, and hit spin, and up came Jim Brickman and the song “The Gift”

I was contacted through my site and asked about a sketch. These are the words…

I would a like the sketch to be of the picture where her
and her cat are looking at each other. You don’t need to put any of the background stuff in. Just her sitting in the chair with the cat.

I had to do a little playing around with the pictures to capture the emotion I wanted for him. It was quite difficult capturing the all black ball of fur, or as Gary put it.. “fat blob of fur” I used all of the photo’s he sent to get the look of Denne’s eyes correct as well as trying to get the “nuzzling” effect of Nike.

It’s the little things that mean so much and for some reason, this inquiry meant a lot to me. “No rush over the holiday, just take your time” he said. We all have experienced loss in some way, and here is a man reaching out to do something for his wife.

I put myself in her shoes for a little bit, having lost a 17 year old cat several years back, and I have to say, I would be blown away if my husband took the initiative to find someone to do something like this for me. Even more so than the drawing itself, the compassion that he had to actually dig deep to find some way of comforting her and keeping the memories alive of Nike.

I am truly amazed at the people the internet has brought into my life…