a jenny lewis model sheet

Okay, first of all, you may not know who Jenny Lewis is.  If that is the case, here's her wikipedia page so go read that for five minutes and then come back.

Second of all, you might be asking, "Brigette, why would you make this?"

To which I can only answer, why on earth would I not?

Seriously though, this is just one of those things, those spontaneous projects that emerge out of nowhere.  It pops into your brain and you're like "I'm gonna DO THAT!" and then when it's done you feel a little sheepish about it because it's really almost totally inexplicable!  I just did it, that's all!  

That and I'm in a work lull right now, so what do I do? I make a model sheet!

I'm a fan of hers, for sure.  I have special, sentimental attachment to the first Rilo Kiley album because that is the CD my husband burned for me when he was first woo-ing me back in my CalArts days.  I would listen to that thing in my little red convertible and drive around Valencia (where CalArts is) and wonder who this lovely voice was that was.  

I'm pretty sure she plays a bunch of other instruments too.  I wish I could play something.

I actually saw Rilo Kiley play live a couple times.  First time they were opening for Elliott Smith, and this is before the CD thing so I had no idea who they were.  They were really great, and I remember Jenny playing the keyboard with a lot of passion, which is saying something since most keyboardists I've seen kinda just hide behind their instruments.  She was twisting dials and singing and doing I don't even know what!  The second time I saw Rilo Kiley was at the Elliott Smith memorial concert right after he died but man, THAT was a bummer for a couple reasons: I went to this concert with my ex-boyfriend almost IMMEDIATELY after we had broken up (do not recommend) and everybody there was mega sad (although that was to be expected).  

I also saw her at a vegan restaurant in my neighborhood once.  I was eating and my not-yet-husband said "OH MY GOD.  That's Jenny Lewis."  And I looked up and she was there, and she was very small and her hair was really pretty and long.  

I've heard that she lives in a house that belonged to a Disney animator in the 40's.  That sounds amazing.  

I also saw her when she played with Belle and Sebastian back in 2010, and she sang a part with them in one of their songs, and let me tell you that for ME that was like having a goddamn donut-hot-fudge-ice-cream-sandwich-poptart-cupcake-milkshake poured into my ears.  It was like a beautiful indie rock dream come true.  

Jenny, if you're out there, I just think you're grand, that's all. 

(Also I hope you don't find this creepy.)  

bring your record player

Another painting for the Norman Rockwell show in July!  It is the horizontal sister to the other painting of teenagers.  I took these pictures really quickly and sloppily immediately after I finished it, and then I packed it up and sent it on its way.  

This is my favorite part.  

A portable record player is a good thing to have.  I've got one.  It's not pink though, unfortunately.  

A big gross mess!  I used that brown paper (actually cut up Trader Joe's bags) to wrap up the two paintings.  Recycle and stuff!

I kind of went with a different process for this painting than I did for the other.  I didn't really make an initial sketch, instead I did some little studies and then drew the sketch directly onto the primed board.  Then I scanned it (in pieces...I hate doing that) and did a digital color key.  I always like the way the sloppy color pass looks better than the finished painting.  It has more something.  I'm not sure what.  

I'm not quite as pleased with this one as I was with the other one, but c'est la vie.  I was also in a tremendous hurry to get this one done, and I'm sure that had something to do with it.  Working under pressure is tricky.  Sometimes it forces you to be more awesome in a smaller amount of time, and at the end you are so happy and you feel like you WON!  But other times you can't escape that gross feeling that you really just don't have enough time and what you're trying to do isn't going to happen, and you go into lazy auto-pilot mode.  

In any case, it's time for me to drink an iced coffee, so til next time!

this painting has no name

The finished painting!  I realized as I was writing this post that I haven't yet named it.  I've been trying to stay looser in my paintings, and let go of that holding-your-breath-trying-to-make-it-just-so feeling.  It's bunches more fun if you are not freaked out every time you pick your brush up.

Sorry about the quality of these images.  I don't have a real camera (these are iphone pics) and the painting is too big for my scanner.  Yes I know I could scan it in pieces and all that jazz, but who has time for that?! (I do not...as I type this I ought to be working on something else, but I get excited when I finish something!)

I know you guys like seeing the painting surrounded by the chaos of my table top...

That thing in the upper left corner is my color work book.  I had to paint what felt like a billion swatches of different color combinations, plus shades and tints for each combo, for a painting class I took at city college.  The class itself was pretty useless, but I've kept and used that color work book ever since.  It's a super helpful thing to have, if you  have the patience to make one.  

doodle explosion

I've been doodling a lot lately.  I'm in this Norman Rockwell tribute show in July, and I'm doing a couple paintings for it.  I'm using one of my favorite (and one of Rockwell's, too) subject matters:  teenagers.  They are pretty wonderful.  This is my very sloppy color sketch for one of said paintings.  

Here are some sketches that I coughed up in preparation for this piece.  I decided not to edit them or make them pretty, so, what you see is how they were drawn on the page. 

Doodles!

Some of these were done from photos.  It is hard to find good photos of teenagers.  The best way to observe them is in their natural habitat: walking home from school.  In photos they either look like children dressed as adults or they are trying very hard to appear attractive.  In person they can't hide all their appealing imperfections though.  

Most of these are not even whole ideas.  I just needed to warm up.  I tend to give up on a drawing half way through if I think it's not going where I want it to.  That's probably not a good habit.  But I keep doing it anyway.  

Even though this was drawn on a huge slice of 16 field animation paper, somehow my favorite drawings are squashed up against, and cut off by, the bottom of the page.  Mer.

This girl is a prototype of the one from the color sketch.  I think I  did a bazillion drawings of her before I found one that I really liked.  My thought process was something like "This girl will have cute short hair.  What kind of shirt would a short-haired girl wear?  She will wear a skirt because she's afraid people might think she's a boy if she doesn't, because she doesn't know how cute and girly she is.  She wears a lot of necklaces for the same reason..." etc. etc.  Yes it's fun to invent people.  

That head right in the the middle is my favorite thing that I've drawn in a long time.  I like that shoe too.  I considered giving her motorcycle boots, but I like cowboy boots better.  Plus it fits the 'Americana' theme of the show.  

I like that girl on the left a lot.  I wish I hadn't drawn that creepy man head so close to her.  It looks like he's trying to smell her hair or something.  Gross!

I hope you still like me now that you know I do lots of ugly and awkward drawings before I get to a good one.  

(Whoooooaaa blogger is all different now!  I like it.) 

Till next time, when I will have a lovely finished painting to show off!

brush pen part 2

Hey! I've been sick aaaaalll week! It sucks. I really thought I was better last night but after being in denial most of the day I finally took a Sudafed and passed out. At least I woke up breathing through my nose, which was a major improvement! I've been sucking down tea and hanging around my apartment for daaaaays and started reminiscing about last weekend when I thought I had beat my sore throat and went to brunch at Alcove, the favorite breakfast-at-noon spot in my neighborhood. It is full of characters, myself included. Here's a few that I encountered:

The lady on the right had a whole lot of look happening: a big woolly oversize sweater, a ripply tunic or dress (it's hard to tell which sometimes but this was supposed to be a dress since she wasn't wearing anything under it), giant chunky rock necklace, crazy gladiator sandals, and the ultimate accessory: a small dog. The dog was cute but ultra tiny! It looked fragile and fluffy. Her friend was tiny and had worlds largest handbag.



This girl is a cupcake. She was really working that romper. Except for the back, where the edge of her butt cheek kept peaking out...but I did you the courtesy of only drawing her from the front.



This was a tall, skinny, lanky couple. They looked like they just rolled out of bed to have a tall, skinny, lanky brunch together.




Also, I added a whoooooollle bunch of new prints to the shop this week. All stuff from my show last month. Lots of the originals are still available too, but I'm still considering whether to put them up in the store or not. I haven't had much luck selling OG's on etsy.

This will probably be my only post this week, since I've spent most of it laying around watching Grey Gardens and eating cough drops like candy.

doodles + unique pics

I don't have any pretty pictures for you today, AND on top of that I DB'd last week and only posted once. Bad show, very bad show. But I did manage to get in some doodle time while sitting behind tables the last couple weekends!

Hip girl rocking the shorts/tights/Tom's shoes combo. Her hair reminded me of when my hair was really short, and her big Ray Bans reminded me of how I almost spent a grip of cash on awesome limited edition Ray Bans like six months ago.



Doodles...I still have a really hard time drawing roses. Whenever I feel discouraged I like to write "note to self: I am a genius" on a post it note and stick it to my desk. Strangely, it forces you to be both confident and not take yourself very seriously at the same time.



This guy was lurping around the GOOD local world's fair...



Sketches of cats with many legs and booties and knitted hats. Mom has a cat that had to have his leg amputated a few months back and I guess I was thinking about cats with odd numbers of appendages...he's fine, by the way. I don't think he even misses his leg.



...the BIRDS!



A girl I saw last Saturday with amazing hair (the amazing part doesn't really come across well in the sketch), some unfortunate looking girls, and Brigitte Bardot (I copied you Jo! Sorry.)



And now here's some pics of the Unique LA show!

Setting up on Friday...

I made that "brigette b" sign, and those wood panel dealies with the paintings hanging off them. I wanted to make a really elaborate table cloth by sewing together like a hundred doilies but I ran out of time.

...waiting oh so patiently.


INTENSE!


It really was a good weekend. I sold lots of prints and buttons, and some framed stuff too. I met some super duper nice folks too, and some blog readers, and even some people who recognized my work from etsy! I discovered lots of cool people/art/stuff too, but I'm saving them for another post. This one's long enough already.

Oh yeah, and I'm having a little special in my shop right now: buy something and I'll throw in a 4x6" 'baby' print to go with it, your choice. It's a little X-mas bonus for you!