Pencil Sketch - Part 2

Archive for Pencil Sketch

Jan

When It Just Ain’t Right

Posted by: Susie | Comments (6)

I’ve got wood..but not the type Frank is talking about over at Tech Jaws.

This is a piece that I knew was BAD.. and just wasn’t right. I beat myself up for 24 hours, knowing I totally missed the deal on this as well it being an unjust to my favorite subject.

This is a piece of work that will be auctioned off at a charity event coming up in February. My husband did not understand my angst over it not being correct, but graciously spent several hours sanding it off for me.

I even asked my brother-in-laws opinion, and he said if I had to ask him, I knew it was not right! He always has an opininon.. most often times one that’s larger than he is. I am not proud of this one, and it just pissed me off.. reworking pencil on natural wood is a pain in the ass. I erased, re-drew, erased, re-drew and nothing, I just could not connect this time.

I highly suggest number one, if you are going to sketch on wood, as I have in the past, go lightly. I mean that literally, it would have saved me time as well as Buck, but determined to get the darker shades down, I laid it on thick.. and the wood just soaked it up..and no matter how I tried, the mistakes could not be corrected.

There has to be a lesson in it right? What makes us good? Going back at it and trying again. Not wanting to butcher another guitar biting sketch, I opted for another favorite pic, really which one of them is not one of my favorites. To many pictures of Stevie, too little time!

Walking away from a project or re-grouping early on is the best way of fixing something that is not going as you had planned. We can all be off our game on any given day, I took a breather and with wood had clean fresh slate which is now turning into something that I can with confidence sign my name to.

Not all the work we do is perfection, not all the projects we are involved in can be “spectacular”, walk away with a lesson & a plan for the next one.

Categories : Pencil Sketches, Rock Art, Stevie Ray Vaughan, guitar

Comments (6)

Jan

Return to Innocence

Posted by: Susie | Comments (2)

Enigma said it best in their song called Return to Innocence

Don’t be afraid to be weak
Don’t be too proud to be strong
Just look into your heart my friend
That will be the return to yourself

We have in the news, Rod Blagojevich - we all know why. Britney Spears for a song with “nasty” connotations as well as Plastic Surgery for the Dead?

Perhaps I just don’t get it…. any of it….Blagojevich needs to trade his jogging suit for some big boy pants and let the state start a recovery effort.

Driving the tollways, his name is plastered all over the I-Pass lanes, if, he is guilty - I do not claim to be a “politician” or a “political junkie” so, I won’t weigh in on that one, but if he is guilty, how much money will be spent alone on removing his name from these signs?

The manpower, hours & money to do it?

Honoring people when they are gone is one thing, a dedicated highway for someone who has made a difference, or a street named after a famous ball player. I get that..but I do know where we have gotten so much helium to inflate the ego’s that exist in our society.

Returning to innocence - when will reporters report on those that make a difference other than those that are bringing down the moral fiber of the human race?

Plastic surgery for the dead? Do you think that King Arthur needed plastic surgery before they sent him afloat on his funeral pyre? Do we really need to have a revival of Britney Spears and her Memoirs? She was born in ‘81, does she really have memories worth sharing after the age of 17?

What about those that have truly suffered tragedy? Just look into your heart my friend, that will be the return to yourself.

Take a day, turn off the tube, relinquish the remote control and find a story in your own life that will be good for someone unsuspecting. Return to Innocence, where you did things because they were fun, you learned, you made people laugh…..

Prompting this post was an inquiry that I had about a sketch, the subject of this inquiry is a driving force behind my passion for drawing, I was asked a price…I am finding it impossible in my heart to put a price on it…..most likely, I will be giving it away!

Categories : Pencil Sketches

Comments (2)

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

Comments (4)

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?