Steve Jobs Collage by Carmen Beecher in Word Play Exhibit

This collage is in the "Word Play" exhibit at the SoBo Gallery & Art Center in Winter Garden for the month of January. The theme is artworks with words incorporated in them. I am really excited about this, because I used to live in Winter Garden and I always call it my "Happy Days" stage of life. It was a lot like the TV show, just a carefree time of life with some very interesting characters. For sentimental reasons, I am very happy to be in the show, and after about 30 years away from Winter Garden I was happy to see that the town is smart enough to keep up with the times and become a very nice place to visit. The downtown area has managed to be quaint, beautiful and trendy all at the same time.

P.S. This collage just sold!

Carmen

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!

Statue of Liberty, "Mother of Exiles," Pencil Drawing on Bristol Board, 9x9 by Carmen Beecher

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The plaque on the wall of the Statue of Liberty reads, in part:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

The poem also refers to the statue, representing America, as the Mother of Exiles. In view of recent events, my drawing speaks for itself. 

Carmen

Italian Girl With Flowers, 11x14 Oil on Canvas, after Sorolla by Carmen Beecher

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I've had no time for painting this week, so I am posting a throwback to 2008, when our painting group, Pieces of Eight, decided to copy Impressionist masters as a learning exercise. I love Sorolla, so I copied one of my favorites, with the above result. Below is the original by Sorolla.

I also copied John Singer Sargent, the master portrait artist. The best thing I've ever done is team up with seven women with the same passion for painting that I have. It has been such an enriching experience in so many ways, and I have learned so much.

I'm working on a huge project that is going to take months, and I'll tell you all about it when it's done.

Carmen

Sultry, 6x8 Oil Painting by Carmen Beecher

SOLD

This all started with a tube of gold paint from Ralph's Art Supply in Melbourne. Gold suggests "exotic" so I painted this and invented her costume and jewelry. This was so much fun that I am going to do some more of these. 

Carmen Beecher

Steve Jobs - Completed Collage

I suppose I should have read his biography first, but I was pressed for time, so I did this collage and now I'm reading the biography. He was a fascinating person and, as the book says, he revolutionized computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. I can tell you from personal experience that once you go Mac...you never go back.

The sketch:

Posted by Carmen

Girl, In Anticipation, 16x20

A little step back into the 17th Century? This is an illustration for a book, and I'm not at liberty to say any more than that right now. Stay tuned...

Posted by Carmen Beecher