Burlesque With Parents

Dr. Sketchy’s burlesque drawing parties have started up again… last month I talked my mom into going with me to the event they were throwing in a bar. (She’s an artist too). She had so much fun that both of my parents wanted to go this month.

Since my dad was planning on bringing his camera and all of its crazy equipment (two bags and a few tripods) I suggested we show up early….they took those words to heart and showed up at my house an hour before the event even started. Both of them carrying major luggage for the drawing class. I usually just grab a sketch pad, some crayola markers and pen and pencil…my mom wanted to paint the figures with watercolors, so she brought a little fold out table, a water bottle for the paints, a few cups for cleaning brushes, etc…and my dad, as I said, brought multiple bags full of photography equipment.
When I said show up early, I was really thinking “we should show up on time.” The events never start on time. I stalled as long as I could but we still ended up showing up a half hour early. Since this is actually inside someone’s home I thought it would be best if we drug our feet a little bit longer, so we walked around outside for a little while, taking photos of the surrounding area.
Dr. Sketchy’s is held in a part of town called “the west bottoms”. It looks horribly dangerous, but it’s not, just filled with empty factories…however, all of the haunted houses are in the west bottoms, so as we were walking around the barren streets were filled with strange howling noises, cackling laughter, and other odd haunted house sounds.

Once the event started everything went smoothly, both parents had a great time…though usually I think nothing of the sexy costumes on the models, but with my parents sitting next to me (in the front row) the scantily clad model suddenly seemed much more ‘scantily clad’. Though having parents there had its own perks… I’ve never investigated the food they have for sale, but my mom was very interested, so she bought me a beer and a margarita for her self, then later we each got a bowl of the butternut squash soup with summer sausage, and a slice of apple pie. It was a bonding experience, food/alcohol, simi-nudity, drawing, photography. My mom has declared she want to go every month.

Here's an example of one of the seemingly innocent costumes...she seems decently covered in clothing, until you find yourself sitting next to your parents drawing the same, seemingly innocent costume:

Graffiti art on one of the buildings outside



Converting Sketchbook Drawing to Computer Art

I’ve always found it hard to keep up with this blog, and a few weeks ago I started a second blog that I have found to be much easier to write about. (Basically that blog is about food, and I’m a very food-centric person, so it seems natural to babble away on that site)….but ever since I’ve been posting on that page, I’ve noticed that I’ve had a lot of viewers on this one, which makes me feel bad since I haven’t updated it in months (I think it’s been months, haha).
So here you go… lately I’ve been doing more figure drawing… the one I’ve posted today is of a belly dancer that I’m in the process of turning into vector art. I sketched the woman using a pencil and paper, and now I’m using that drawing as the draft and recreating it on the computer…once I have it completely drawn on the computer, she will be easy to manipulate (I can change up the background, change the colors of the dancer and her clothing, etc.)

---- hmmm, blogger.com doesn't seem to like my computerized version of the dancer... their warping her proportions:(

Etsy

I'm finally setting up an etsy account... I'm a little nervous about the name I've chosen, Urban Zingara (zingara is another word for gypsy). Two months ago I set up a site with the name GyspyHeart, but when trying to develop the logo and what not I realized I had mistyped "Gypsy"...go figure in the two months I stalled someone else took my name *ahem* with the correct spelling. But I like the name Urban Zingara much better, I'm just worried that "zingara" might not be easy to remember.  I guess time will tell.
So the new site is www.UrbanZangara.etsy.com or http://www.etsy.com/shop/urbanzingara
Though I probably wont post anything for sale for about a month...I've still gotta set up my paypal account and research all the do's and don’ts first. But it's exciting, I'm moving forward!!!

Gosh Darn Stars

I’m still working on the star veil that I started a couple weeks ago….I can sense what I want, but I cant seem to create it… I want to capture the feeling I get when looking at art nouveau designs… something a little romantic, a little moody, idealistic, and iconic… just simply a blanket of stars. A friend suggested just jumping in with both feet, but I don’t feel good about starting until I can at the very least map out an idea of my “feeling”…but I think I’m getting closer, I’m much happier with these layouts than the ones I started with….


In the mean time, I snagged some car magnet material from work (from jobs that needed to be reprinted for some reason or another), and I’ve been scheming ideas for giant refrigerator magnets….my first instinct was very girly: flowers, bamboo, etc… then I started thinking of childlike images like monsters and robots… we shall see.

Simple update

This week I’ve been working on a dance veil covered in stars. I thought it would look cool to have a dancer twirling in a blanket of stars. Simple enough… but as I started mapping out sketches I quickly realized that because this is such a simple idea it can go wrong very easily… I’ve been playing with simple grids, different arrays of randomness, having the stars go from big in the center to small on the edges, and visa versa…I tried so many different arrangements that I actually started dreaming about them! But I think I’ve got it figured out, now for the daunting task of putting those plans into action.

Dance Veil

In American belly dancing it is common to dance with large yardages of fabric.... it is thought to be "middle eastern" but it actually isn't. America has greatly altered belly dancing through the years (or in kinder terms, put a modern spin on an ancient dance form). One of the alterations we have made was the idea to dance with a veil (aka: large yardages of fabric)... it was an American woman with a slouching problem, that studied under a ballerina who got the brilliant idea that if the woman had to hold the corners of a veil in the air as she entered the room it would force her to walk in with a bold/graceful/commanding presence. Many took a liking to the veil and it has become a part of belly dancing all across the nation. Unfortunately all these veils that people use are rather simple, with solid colors, maybe a subtle pattern.
In effort to dwindle down my art supplies I thought I would design some dancing veils that are a little more conceptual.... the photo above is a crude shot at my first of the series... but I think it will look awesome floating through the air as the dancer spins and twists the fabric... and I made the center more calm because the center of the fabric is most visible when the dancer holds the fabric still against her body as a screen with the silhouette of her body dancing behind it.  Can you picture it?

Time to clean out the art studio!

I've started a new mission called "use up all my art supplies".... for a while I was just tossing the excess (keeping the good stuff, of course)... but I hate wasting perfectly good supplies, and I'm tired of storing so much, so I've decided to set up an Etsy account and start making crafts I can sell online. The photo above was my weekend craft :)

Drawing Club Epiphany

Went to Dr. Sketchy's again tonight.... It was hotter than hell. Still enjoyable, but man, I felt like I was in Cuba! I had an epiphany tonight... I'm still rusty with my drawing skills, and for the first half of the night, I laboriously struggled to get all my proportions right, drawing then second guessing every line... then half way through the night, I got my underlining draft set up, and just boldly drew the line that most caught my eye as dark as I could... before when I was drawing and redrawing everything I was almost getting detracted by the model... I would fall in love with the curve of her nose, or the highlight on a knee... and then struggle getting all the pieces to fit together correctly.... once I boldly/brashly started committing to lines, I realized I don't need to final piece to look 100% like the model... she can be there as a reference instead of a subject. (This concept goes against all five years of drawing classes in art school).  But, suddenly I started having a lot more fun, and started coming up with more successful drawings. I’m still rusty, but it's a step in the right direction.

Macabre Flowers

I like how you can say anything you want through abstract art, and no one has to know...they may get the vague gist of what you were thinking... but they will never be able to precisely say what was on your mind. Abstract art to me, can be kind of like talking to a therapist, all kinds of stuff is said without any veils of "maybe I shouldn't have said that." But looking back at what transpired can make one feel very bashful.

This drawing was done after a date that went very well... I was contemplating the loss of past successful relationships, and the giddiness of finding someone new that I'm quite fond of. I didn't intend to say any of that when I sat down... I had just said good night to my date, and then sat down with my sketchbook and my mind started roaming. Looking back at the piece brings back my thoughts very vividly, but I am quiet grateful that it will not have the same effect for the spectator.

Craft Day

A friend of mine decided to host a craft day that was open for each of us to bring our own project. I brought a couple projects with me, but then decided it has been a really long time since I last posted on this blog... so I decided to work in my sketchbook instead. It's always a gamble to work in front of other people. I get nervous knowing that others can see my work, which in turn causes me to create bad drawings. Beyond that, it's very rare for me to draw with a vision if I'm in a social setting with my sketchbook.... I'm not thinking about what my doodle "should be"... instead it is a spontaneous dance, every step is a surprise. I make a mark, then react to that mark with another mark... sometimes I end up with really interesting stuff, and some times it just turns into chaos... personally I think this piece embodies both categories simultaneously.

V.a.c.a.t.i.o.n.

Down in Key West for the week. Its interesting checking out the galleries, cause the artists down here have a completely different color pallet than the Midwest does…. My mom and I noticed this last time we were in Florida together… but now that I’m in the Keys I see where this color pallet is coming from…. All paintings include a light turquoise, and when you look out into the water, which is everywhere, it’s the exact same funny blue. Key West is a very joyous place to be… seems that everyone is here to find themselves (or get away from themselves, I’m not sure which)…but everyone seems happy, and slightly sun burnt…. Maybe it’s just the optimistic vacationer in me, but I am finding it to be a great inspiration… fresh new color scheme and unique patterns everywhere (from the wood trim that adorns each house, the rod iron gates that show up as stores close)…. I’ll post new sketches soon I’m sure.

Choice one or choice two, choice one or two????

Choice one or choice two, choice one or two???? Negative space was not the goal for this sketch, but I drew myself into a corner… I loved where it was going but couldn’t figure out anything more to add to the bottom half. In a way I find all the empty space as peaceful and zen, but a part of me feels like it’s a puzzle that I just can’t solve. There’s got to be something I could add to the bottom half. So while I was sitting on an airplane I took the time to play around with adding “something” down there (if you look through my old posts you can see the artwork that I collaged in there (though the colors have be altered, and I’ve added a lot to it). It’s amazing what you can do with a computer.

The seedy side

Going to the burlesque drawing class got me thinking about the parts of Kansas City no one goes to... it's ironic to me that buildings can look cold and sinister, not because of the architecture, but purely because of it's location....we were in the part of town that use to be the mecca of the industrial revolution, now it's a blind spot....full of lifelessly empty factories, huge, dark, cold factories.

A new empire named Dr Sketchys

There once was a girl who was desperately bored in life drawing classes, who asked “why do we have to draw such boring poises? They are nudes after all.” This alleged girl decided to start a club where artists would chip in a few bucks and have some burlesque dancers pose for them… this started a revolution that has now spread all across the country. (If you’re wondering if there’s a group near you google Dr. Sketchy’s and your city's name, if your in a big city it’s probably there…somewhere.)

I learned about Dr. Sketchys in Florida about 5 years ago, and quickly discovered they are in my city too, though attending has always been a nervous debate… this is not just a life drawing group with a bunch of nudes, this is life drawing with a bunch of nudes that will make you blush…. And your probably going to get a show too….I was afraid of sitting in bible study some day and blurting out “that reminds me of this burlesque dancer…”… but lately winds of change have struck me, I’ve been rapidly knocking off those things on my list that I’ve trepidaciously set aside for “another day.” So I found a friend would go with me, AND IT WAS AAAAWESOME!

My sketches don’t give it any justice… it’s been a long time since I last drew nudes… and these were just quick 5 minute or less drawings…. But let me paint you a picture:

The address of this group was down in the empty factory district….aka the place where no one goes. When we found the right street with huge ghostly buildings all around we were stopped by a random chintzy train stopping bar…in the middle of nowhere, with no train… yet sure enough, about a minute later a train came blazing through… no horn honking like normal, cause well, we’re in the part of town where no one goes…. But as we’re waiting for the train to pass we see a kid with a sketch book walking around the corner… so we decide to park and follow.

There’s a flyer on the door, indicating this is the place… door was unlocked, but there was no one inside, and there were only a few lights on inside huge factory building…. We happen to spot the kid with the sketch book, who emerges from a dark room filled with who knows what, and he asks “do you know how to get there?”…then suddenly we hear a deep rattle and a few bangs…. And a narcoleptic emo kid emerges out of the corner “You guys need a ride up?”… “um, yeah,…a ride up to the burlesque drawing class?”…no answer, he just turns around and starts walking…. The three of us follow him into the old elevator covered in old Dr. Sketchy flyers…oh good, where in the right place…. We must have gone up 5 stories before the doors opened again… but this is a much different view… music is pulsing from a switch board manned by a DJ… a mixture of indie rock and classics like patsy cline…. Edgy artwork is all over the walls, the place is huge with couches every were, and a bar that looks like its from an old speak easy in the corner… with a bartender that’s all tattooed up, wearing suspenders and bright orange highlights in his bleach blond hair…a dining room table filled with burlesque dancers playing cards while smoking and painting their finger nails…a friendly pitbull weaving around about 50-70 artists, young and old adorned with cameras, sketch pads, markers, etc…. in the back corner is a platform surrounded by chairs, and then surrounded by couches….the place was unreal. As my friend put it “I don’t feel cool enough for this place.”

Distractions

Spring is here!!! Which means thousands of opportunities everything from food expos to yard work and spring cleaning... and I've been doing it all... the one thing I haven't been doing is keeping up with my art and sketchbook :0/  I've got some pathetic paisley art (I do that when I'm not really thinking about what I'm creating) but nothing worth sharing.
Though for two years I've been shuffling my art studio around and saying "this weekend I will get it all organized"... which is what I am actually in the process of doing as we speak. There is light at the end of that dusty tunnel, it will be clean, usable, and welcoming once again, hopefully before the night is over.

Carpe Diem

(random marker sketch)

A friend was challenging my thoughts on marker art, asking why couldn't I sell giclee prints of my sketches. I've always seen anything done with markers, crayons or puff paint as a doodles, not real art. But I decided why not, they make me happy, plus I've got connections, it wouldn't be a terribly huge expense to make prints... So I called my mom and asked if we could collaborate next weekend (she too is an artist but she's got bigger and better toys...like a professional giclee printer). Turns out she's not available....for a month... kind of took the wind out of my sails... I don't want to wait a month; I would rather just hit the ground running. *sigh* she said we can 'discuss' things and brain storm and in a month give it a go. Mothers should not be allowed to take vacations!

New Supplies

Having the right tools makes all the difference! I was running low on dye thickener, and as I was ordering more, I threw in a few squeeze bottles... 3 out of the 6 bottles weren't quite right, but the other three are awesome...I think that was exactly what I needed in order to work with dyes on fabric the same way I do with markers on paper.

Planning

To me there is something magical about having a dark background and a light foreground.  This doesn't happen 'naturally' in art.  If I were to use markers, crayons, textile paints, etc. I must plan my light colors before my dark colors.  Maybe it's just the empathy of the work that goes into having a dark background with a light foreground, but I've always found it to be more striking than the reverse color combination...and beyond that I really enjoy making the background more detailed than the foreground... it's almost like a game... in this piece you instinctively know the interlacing strokes of solid color are the subject, yet it's the background that has the texture and volume.

When to give up?

The other day I sat down to paint without any sketches or plan. As the music in the background switched from one song to another so did my vision. By the time I was done I was quite annoyed with my attempt to "wing it"... but later when I looked at it again I thought "well maybe".... so all week now I've been fighting with this piece... every time I think "just trash it" I think "what if I do..."

I'm  f..i..n..a..l..1..y starting to like the painting... though I have mixed emotions on the butterflies.  My general overall goal lately is to create artwork that is more welcoming for the viewer... but I have a strong desire to add military men to the painting.  Some of you may know my senior year in art school all my paintings were military related... I'm comfortable with the topic, I like it, it's gritty...butterflies, not so gritty.

Negative Space

A few years ago my mom took me to a small craft fair where I stumbled across a 93 year old woman creating bobbin lace. Instantly I fell in love as I watched her repetitiously weave each string. To this day I only know how to do a little bit of bobbin lace weaving. It takes about 2 hours to create one square inch... and I just don't have that kind of time. But the process has taught me to be much more sensitive to the negative spaces in a composition.

(In art we commonly refer to the main subject as the positive space, and the background surrounding the object as negative space.) In this piece I was playing with the positive and negative space, watching the visual dance of the two interacting.

White is not a color

When I was in college I noticed that people seemed to hate seeing white in a painting. Many times I brought a painting to a critique that had a white background, but ever single time my peers would say, "the white just makes it look unfinished."

I was looking at the sketch I posted the other day, and found myself saying the same thing - the white looked too bright, and unresolved. Originally, I chose to leave the small bits of white thinking anything more would be too much noise, but when I looked at it again, it seemed as though the white was the loudest noise possible. I just thought I would share the before and after with you - I think it's funny how 99% of the time it seems the artwork looks better without any white.

Tomorrow is finally here

(this is a 24x24inch painting done on silk... after the dyes have set the fabric is washed and the color is permanently embedded into the fabric -- its like magic)

For years I have been telling myself "I'll paint tomorrow"...well tomorrow has finally come. The painting above is one of the pieces I've been working on this last week. But here's the thing, I don't know if it's done. As an artist our job is to push past the initial "ah-ha" but know when to stop before going over the edge.

I'm in love with the composition, the simplicity balanced with complexity, and the mix of calm and chaos. If I were to continue all these traits will be lost or altered... but I know more could be done... I could add a pattern to the background adding dimension, or I could paint on top of the entire thing with textures making it moody, or I could go whimsical and add a background of flowers, clouds, or faint airplanes causing twisted cuteness. So I think I might make a series of these... that way I'll know the path I should have taken... kind of like a choose your own adventure novel... you read the story over and over again, to see what would have happened "if." (don't worry I'll share those trials with you.) :)

Inspiration from a date and a happy meal

This last weekend I was on a first date, and was explaining to the guy that I tend to gravitate towards abstract art, but it is much harder to sell than realistic art. I think it is respected more than realism, but not as easily understood.

Fast forward a few days later, I was running late, so rather than make lunch I bought a McDonalds happy meal (I know, shame on me), but pleased as could be with my new happy meal toy it dawned on me why don't I try to add creatures into my drawings to bring the viewer into the world, giving them something easily recognisable that they can build the story around.

My first attempt is a little crude... I was really captivated by the curve of the neck on the giraffe so I build around that, trying to echo that curve throughout the drawing, but I think the "foreign object" threw me off... the composition is a little uncreative...but I'm liking the concept.

Procrastination at its best

It always amazes me how I can happily spend hours working in my sketchbook, but I drag my feet about doing art outside of the sketchbook. Through the years I've come up with many excuses...
1. art outside of the sketchbook is real
2. I can doodle anything in my sketchbook and no one has to know -- it's almost liberating to think that it would be very difficult to display my sketches as actual artwork
3. it's cheaper to just play with children's markers

In all reality my sketchbook work is just as important as my paintings, it's the labor behind the scenes where I research patterns, color combinations, compositions... even if it's just for fun, there is a point to it... but hopefully this year I will start translating those sketches into actual paintings!

Entering the world of blogging

I've been an avid facebook fan... I love that I can keep up with all the little things going on in my friends lives, and I love that it has essentially created a journal of my life... I'm hoping blogger.com will become that for me as well. I'm a textile artist who has put painting on the back burner for a few years now, but I'm hoping to journal my experiences as I re-enter the art world.