The other night husband and I were watching a documentary about the yeti where they were doing DNA analysis of samples of supposed yeti fur, and every one of them came back as bears.
Anyway, the next night we watched a thing about some pig man who is supposed to live in Vermont. People said it had claws and a pig nose but walked upright like a man. Now, I happen to know that sideshows used to shave bears and present them as pig men. So every piece of evidence they gave of this monster sounds to me like a bear with mange.
So now the running joke in our house is that everything is bears. Aliens? Bears. Loch Ness monster? Bear. Every cryptozoological mystery is just a very crafty bear.
Bears. They’re everywhere. Be wary. Anyone or anything could be a bear.
2016 is feeling more and more like that bit in movies where the time traveller accidentally kills a bug and when they return the world is Not Quite Right
Me, talking about whatever I’m hyperfocused on: *very excited and happy to talk about said thing, is genuinely enjoying the conversation*
Friend: *says nothing, does not respond, doesn’t react in anyway*
Me, wringing my hands nervously: so um, anyways, let’s talk about Normal Stuff(TM)
Your art is like nothing I’ve seen. Celebrity portrait drawing has been around for a long time, but your gallery is so unique. I love the look with the jewel toned backgrounds, the poses and quiet expressions, almost like you’re pulling these characters into a dream world. Would you be willing to talk about what led to that look? I love how calming and powerful these portraits are. Thanks for your time and all your wonderful work!
Heya thank you so much. đź’—
Obviously television and movies are big influences. Baroque art, pin-up art, sci-fi illustration, album cover art, etc. Whatever I grew up with, really.
“Dream world” is accurate, I think. I want to show you my gaze and bring you into a space where I can share it with you. It’s a little bit erotic and a little bit perverted, too, because we’re talking about the dream world of film and television where nothing is real and the camera tells you what you’re supposed to find attractive.
But it’s not necessarily just my gaze. It’s taking something that’s generally considered shameful or immature (like being a fangirl—or just being a girl in general and having fantasies and masturbatory thoughts in whatever capacity that girls are expected to grow out of or at the very least never talk about) and taking it very seriously. As seriously as any male artist has ever taken himself and his own gaze.
I love the idea of girl fantasy, which is something that people look down on and have always looked down on or ignored historically—but girl fantasy through a completely elevated and male-dominated form of art.
Nothing is quite as appealing or satisfying to me. That a girl can be as skilled as Caravaggio and paint Jensen Ackles because fuck you. 🙂
