June Challenge, a Modern Take on a Famous Old Image

The challenge for June was to do a modern version of a well-known old artwork. I chose Mona Lisa.

Mona the Millennial

The one thing I always noticed about Mona Lisa besides her smile is the fact that she has no eyebrows. In reading the book about Leonardo da Vinci, I learned that she once had eyebrows, but they went away, possibly in a bungled cleaning of the painting. I decided to make her a modern woman with mascara, lipstick, and eyebrows. Even though she's taking a selfie, she isn't making that pouty-pucker-kissy face the young girls do on Facebook.

Carmen



o.k. so I have a fascination with tattoos.  I don't want one but I am amazed at the amount of body art that people have now.  They have so many things tattooed on them with so many meanings.  Tattoos used to be for sailors and bad boys.  When people expressed themselves they did it through clothes, cloth, and uniforms.
This Matisse portrait "The Rumanian Blouse" brought up so many questions to me.  Is national identity gone and personal identity in?  Is it because so many clothes are mass produced people want something to speak for them?  If Matisse were painting today his portrait may be titled "Rumanian nude with tattoos",

donnavinesart.etsy.com
donnavinesart.blogspot.com

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The painting I have chosen to make MORE modern is a classic that is not so old. And I have used it before because it is one of my favorites. This time I wanted to try doing a copy that used geometric forms. It really is not as abstract as I thought I would make it originally. So, back to the drawing board. I did a mixed-media with fabric, paper and paint. The medium changed the color of the fabric, so the colors are not as fresh looking as I had hoped. I will definitely have to "squint, squint, squint" as Donna would say and try to do a truly abstract painting that captures the colors in the center of the flower better. But that will be for later.

My collage

Georgia O'Keefe

Sunflower, New Mexico I, 1935

Fay Picardi

Vitruvian Man

Leonardo DaVinci 

1490

Vitruvian Man

Homer Simpson

2018

My apologies to Leonardo

Carol Schiff

www.CarolSchiffStuio.etsy.com

www.CarolSchiffStudio.blogspot.com

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Kathy Garvey

I was away for all of June without access to my paints and supplies but I had planned to do a remake of either Whistler's Mother or Grant Wood's famous couple in American Gothic.

Whistler's Mother, or as titled by him...

Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1
Artist	James McNeill Whistler
Year	1871
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	144.3 cm × 162.4 cm (56.8 in × 63.9 in)
Location	Musée d'Orsay, Paris

I managed to create a last minute version of Whistler's Mother using Illustrator and Photoshop. It doesn't do his masterpiece justice, but she is updated enough to have moved out of her rocking chair and replaced the classic wall sketch with the modern requisite "family rules." She represents the modern "Mom" in her leisure wear, clunky jewelry, and bare feet as she checks out her Ipad. 

And while I didn't manage to create an updated Grant Wood, I wanted to share what my sister Liz Printz painted on a rock (of all things) with Grant Wood's masterpiece. I got such a kick out of it,  and it was a coincidence that it was so in tune with our challenge this month! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Thanks, Liz!