Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Angst of It All

Here is a scan of the first ATC's I have ever made. I think am calling these finished and have quite a few backgrounds ready to go. Maybe I am ready to join a swap but feel I have to experiment a bit more. The background for 3 of them are painted baby wipes. They stayed soft after the paint and have a fabric feel to them. All are done on playing cards - I have a never-ending supply of those here in Las Vegas. The metal circle with the painted 6 was made from the cover of a coffee can.
As I was making these and thinking about starting some altered books and art journals, I came across a 30 year old fabric covered sketchbook of mine that had many unfilled pages. Some of the drawings and notes that I had done where near and dear to my heart so I have vowed to complete the entire thing. Problem is I will have to give up on a theme but I have decided it will have only my own drawings with maybe a few embellishments here and there.

This is the first pages I sketched yesterday from a flier of the Phantom of the Opera which is playing here at the Venetian. It is done with gesso and water-soluble graphite pencils. Drawing in ink is a favorite technique of mine with the pencils coming in second.
One of the drawings from 1983 that I liked were of clowns so I did a sketch (on the left) of some others from a magazine clipping that I have kept for as long.

And finally, this one done in 1984 with brush and ink is a self portrait. Maybe not so well-done but expressive. It expresses some heavy-duty angst I was going trough at that time of my life. Although I am quite happy to not be in that place again, I want to be able to bring back the 'feeling' that I had in my sketching so long ago. When I get to the last two pages I will do the Phantom of the Opera again in the hopes that with all the practice more of my hand and style will be gained again.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

AWEsome work, Arliss!

lmp said...

I would love to trade with you for the cat with believe. You can see mine at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34389059@N00/
I am going to be posting more over the next few days so check back to find one you might want to swap for. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Your drawings are absolutely wonderful. The faces have so much expression. I also really liked the ATC cards - you're a natural - jump in, the water is fine.

Bonnie Schulte said...

These are your first atc's??? They are just wonderful. Love your sketch book too. Can't wait to see more of your drawings.. Bonnie in WI

BN Farrington said...

Loooove your sketches and your atc's are great :O)

Susan said...

Love the ATCs - gorgeous! The purplish colors are wonderful. Also I am so impressed with the sketchbook. Your work is inspiring. Keep creating! Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Hey! I never saw those sketches!!! Awesome! You will have to tell me how u did those ATC's....did u just decoupage the main figures and then embelish?....very kewl!And the baby wipe thing.....neato! Btw, loving the look of the blog....awesome! You could add a close up of the mosaic wall if u run outta picture ideas for the right margin there!...;)