Livia fiercely
 
 
Hi Kids- Just wanted to let you know I’ve added two new drawings to the “Fine Art” page: “Earthly Delights (Coney Island Night),” and “Carmen at the Cafe.” As always, the drawings are narratives and packed with details so please get up close and personal with them. I am eager for feedback and I am available for all kinds of illustration projects so please feel free to contact me and tell me what you think And now for a more personal note/possible discussion topic: I recently received a comment that stuck in my craw. A fellow artist, who’s work is similar to my own only in that he uses symbols and paints recognizable objects, said that my proportion are very “classical.” I’m not entirely sure what that means as a comment from one artist to another, but I would point out that often that is, in fact, not the case. In “Tess,” for example, her hand and forearm are enormous and brawny, much larger than a natural hand would be. That was an intentional choice made to show that the supposed aristocratic refinement bestowed by her name and supposed family connections is usurped by the fact that she is an unpretentious girl who works with her hands. In the newer drawing, “Earthly Delights..” you will also notice the central figure’s legs are comparatively large for her frame. You can also see a play with proportion in“Carmen”who is enormous compared to her surroundings. These are editorial choices that I hesitate to point out. I prefer to let people find their own way through a drawing but that comment has made me wonder if it might be useful to make plain the subtle choices that a representational artist makes. I do take a certain amount of inspiration from American Regionalists (though I doubt you could ever tell) and I don’t think anyone ever looked at a painting by Thomas Hart Benton and thought “wow, I might as well be looking at an anatomical drawing!”Likewise, I don’t think anyone could really look at my work and think “that’s a really classical drawing.”I hope my work has a little more interest to it than that! And a final side note: I often get asked if I use references. I do a certain amount of research for historical and cultural accuracy, but everything else - facial expressions, particular fabric patterns, gestures, etc. - comes from my head. I look around constantly taking note of architectural details, the way flowers burst from a bud, the way a dog’s expressions change from moment to moment and I tuck those details away to be used, sometimes accurately, sometimes not so much, at a later date. A few years ago I decided that all the things one encounters on a daily basis can be useful. Everything is useful and I draw on the resulting bank of remembered images to make my drawings. As always, Love and Rockets, Lucia N. Tenebrae (Jess) everything is useful.