Uncovered.

In the process of cleaning, weeding out stuff, re-organizing my closet, and packing - all in anticipation of eventually moving, of course - I ran across some drawings that I frankly didn't think I had hung on to. Surprise! There they were, hiding in my closet. Most of them are just sketches and studies from figure drawing sessions of years past... tons and tons of them, not all good. I also ran across these two sketches I did from life of myself and John, though... the one of John is undated, unfortunately, but probably comes from around the time of the self-portrait, which is dated in early 2001. So, for your amusement:

Early 2000s charcoal sketch of John by me, Diane Feissel

2001 graphite self-portrait sketch, with a decidedly over-emphasized chin... we can't win them all, folks.

Phreaky.

I was in Philadelphia earlier this week for about, oh, 9 hours or so? Even in that brief amount of time, I managed to encounter a stellar specimen of sheer, unbridled Crazy in the form of a peculiar insert found in a SEPTA R1 Regional Rail (the train that goes to and from the Philly airport) schedule. I've scanned it and posted it here for your reading, um, pleasure:

P.S. If you can find any logic in this whatsoever, please don't tell me... because that probably means you're just as crazy as the author of this unique manifesto. Haha. Just kidding. Mostly. But seriously, what's up with the cats?

Drawlllllll.

Went to Alia's to draw on Saturday morning - had a great model. Here's the sketch I came up with:

Sketch by me. Thanks to Alia for hosting - this is one of the things I'll miss when we move!

Monster in the neighborhood.

So I came home from work this evening and found this out my window in the parking lot behind our apartment:

Perhaps you've heard of the Barrel Monster incident here in Raleigh from earlier this year? Well, as I guessed in this post, we are indeed neighbors of Joseph Carnevale, the guy who created the original barrel monster. The pic above is of his most recent creation, being built for this year's SparkCon event, a celebration of creativity and such held annually here in Raleigh. So, apparently this is a work-in-progress, a giant barrelosaurus of some sort... you can read more about it here. And go check it out in its finished form at SparkCon this weekend, if you're around Raleigh. In the meantime, the neighborhood kids are getting a sneak preview right in their own backyard, so to speak, as am I:

Carnevale, at right, with barrelosaurus-in-progress and interested neighborhood kids

Location, location, location.

As we gear up for another relocation this fall, eventually, hopefully, we've been a tad busy. Sigh. In between some brief forays into printmaking, I have had some time to work on a few Fabrication paintings... here's one of the latest:

here's looking at..., diptych (each panel 20" x 10"), oil on printed fabric, 2009, by me, Diane Feissel

The sound of silence.

Sorry for the long absence... been working on stuff. Art stuff, to be slightly more specific. Here's a snippet from something I'm working on but may never finish until I'm old(er) and (more) withered:

...a work in progress by me, Diane Feissel, featuring Huey and Fanny. It's in oil on printed fabric, fabric I procured at an adorable little fabric shop in San Francisco which, alas, is around no longer - likely a casualty of the recession. Sigh.

The little prints.

Last weekend I embarked upon an adventure into printmaking. To be specific, an adventure into monotype – or so I'm told. I'm new to this whole printmaking thing... I find it very intimidating, somehow – it seems oddly unforgiving. For example: you can make a gross mistake and then WHAMMO, that mistake is permanently imprinted onto paper. I think I can say this was pretty much the case for my very first print, and those thereafter as well. But it was fun... trying? I think? I think part of my issue is my aversion to bad drawing, and I did some very bad drawing in the course of making these prints. Part of the issue for me is this: in the same way that I would be really bad at watercolor painting and working light-to-dark, I am reeeeally quite unskilled at working reductively (or "subtractively"), I've noticed – pulling out the lights from a plate full of dark ink. Eeesh. My customary habit with oil painting involves thinking and applying paint from dark tones to light tones, and it appears my brain is stuck that way. Well, for better or for worse, here are some of the results, in keeping with the theme of "Painters Under Pressure" – the title of the show for which I was making these prints - I was definitely feeling the pressure. Ungh. Stay tuned for more info on the exhibit, which will be in Raleigh next month.

My first and second attempts at monotype, respectively. AAAUUUUGHHH!!!!