Jimi, Inventories, and Challenges

I just finished printing my art inventory for the show on Saturday, and realized I never took photos of "Jimi Hendrix". I painted a very nontraditional portrait, sort of "other-worldly". It was a challenge from my dearly beloved. We had been sitting in the studio, and a Hendrix song came on the radio, and he said, "Why don't you paint a picture of Hendrix?" Now, you have to understand, I don't do portraits. Ever. So of course I couldn't get this idea out of my head. I tried to paint him all serene and happy, kinda stoked on life, so to speak. It just wasn't working. So I started talking to the painting, saying, "What do you want me to do, Jimi?" (This was not an isolated moment of insanity; I talk to inanimate objects all the time.) I was totally frustrated with the painting, so I changed the face to a scowl and sullen stare, and voila! Now it had some emotion. I put him in a psychedelic swirly cloud and the whole painting changed. I don't think I'll do a series of dead rock and roll musicians, though. But as a challenge, it got me thinking outside my usual box, and if you don't stretch, you don't grow, right? So here's the painting of James Marshall Hendricks, from the other side.

"Jimi Hendrix", Oil on Canvas, 30H x 24W, (c)Jean LeBaron

Happy Cinco de Mayo

I could use a little Mexico in my life today...we've had rain for 5 days now. My brain is getting soggy. I am sitting here thinking about neon-aqua water and palm trees in 80 shades of green. Mmmmmmmmmm. Add in a mango-colored sunset sky, and I can almost smell the lime in my margarita. ah, well.

The Art and Music Fest in Toms River is shaping up, and hopefully we'll have all this rain out of the way for May 16. Last night we did a dry run setup of the display (in the living room, cuz, well, it was raining) and it seems as though everything is good to go. I just have to decide what paintings to display.

I am planning several paintings in my head at the moment; you know, the preliminary stage before you actually put something down on paper, pre-thumbnails, pre-value sketch, pre-everything. But they are not going away, so I know that these will end up as oil on canvas in the near future. So I suppose you will hearing more about them, and possibly even seeing pictures. I think I'll go gesso a canvas, and see what happens.

this just in.......


The Artist's Magazine Annual Art Competition Deadline Extended to May 8
Because of an extraordinarily high volume of traffic on our site last week, some artists experienced difficulties in submitting digital entries to our 2009 annual contest. We're sorry! We are therefore extending the deadline a week. The deadline for entries to The Artist's Magazine's 26th Annual Art Competition is now May 8th, 2009.Click here to enter.
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