This week you get to see sketchbook drawings again, woo hoo! These are colored marker
drawings I have done over the years. I drew, then colored, the people.
Most will have symbols and images familiar to those who have seen my work over the
years. I would love to know your thoughts on those symbols and the drawings in general.
Another in my series of portraits. She was modeling for our local photo group. I
walked away from the group, looking around the back of this barn they were using. I
found this gorgeous rust and metal wall and immediately went back and stole the model
away for a brief amount of time to get this shot.
Another in my week of portraits. This is a dancer/model from the Tulsa Ballet who posed
for our photo group in the spring of 2008. I don’t know her background, but I see a
real Russian look to her with her eyes and bone structure in particular.
This is a series of black and white images that I worked on to create a very painterly,
beautiful and moody feel to them. I wanted them to look hyper real yet very other
worldly at the same time.
I brought my 88 year old father into the Vietnamese Nail Salon to get his toenails trimmed. He
can’t do them anymore and they get REALLY long before he says anything about them.
While I was waiting I noticed this woman getting her nails done. I was particularly drawn to her
wide set eyes and asked her if I could take her photograph. I took some photos of her fingers
and nails sitting on the towel waiting to be filed.
Later when I was doing the collage of her face photos I connected the finger photos and kept
seeing them as little wings. I envisioned her wanting to fly from the Vietnamese Nail Salon to
New York or Dallas, to BE somewhere, to fly to the top, to be seen gliding and flying and rolling
across the sky.
I later came across her at the local Target where she is a co-worker of my daughter. She didn’t
remember me taking the photos at all.
I did a photo shoot with her back in 2007 and witnessed what a vortex of activity and energy she
created while she was modeling. I kept having a feeling of watching a human tornado. I took
some photos around the house of objects, windows, etc. and put together this collage that really
seemed to play off this idea.
Hey it’s Fourth of July week here in the states. Can’t let it go past without posting my favorite
photos in Red, White and Blue now could I!
This was taken on July 4th, 2007 in Frisco, Colorado at the town parade. A perfect way to show
the american colors and still be stylish. I like it.
Day three of a week long exhibition of drawings I have done while in Church.
Faith United Methodist Church, Tulsa, OK
3rd in a series on ‘night’. It was a very hot and humid night and I loved that she had
that sheen or glow of heat on her. I also loved the blue/red compositional element of
the door and wall behind her.
I had gone down to Oklahoma City from my home in Tulsa (about 100 miles) to drop off my presentation for the upcoming Photoslam event. I decided to take the day and check out some galleries down that way, something I really hadn’t done before.
When I entered the ‘Untitled’ [art space] gallery this woman was at the door greeting people, explaining the current show, etc. She was very helpful about explaining how the show came about (it was a year end showing of multiple grant recipients’ work).
We got to talking about me being an artist since I had my camera with me, and I asked her if she was as well. She turned out to be an art historian in training, going to college.
The gallery was somewhat dark, but there were large windows in the front that let in great ambient light. Her eyes, as is obvious, were brilliant blue. I told her about my reason for being in OKC, and explained the ‘truth’ project I would present at the show. I asked her if she would be willing to pose for a collage from the truth series as well and she thought it would be a cool idea.
One of the artists in the gallery had large constructions. One of the constructions had a shredder attached to it that was churning out shredded paper very slowly. Photos of that, with photos of her were the perfect combination for what I learned about her as we talked; her life, doubts, fears, wonderings, etc.