Painting @ MindSay

They've been with me for a long while... but as each year goes by, Dorathea "Thea" Evangelisti and Alexandre "Alex" (or Lex) Lucien Valois become closer to how I dream them to be: 
 

Thea's dark burgundy-purple bangs cut into her eyes.  Her bangs are like a veil to hide behind.  Alex thinks the color of her hair is that of a wine stain.  This is reflected on her lips. 


Alexandre himself is quite pale (he has terrible allergies to sunlight) and looks a bit too old for his age (he has white hair).  He is always well dressed, prefers to wear long trench coats that make him look even thinner and taller.  His pale gray eyes often look lavender (when there's red in them) or appear very blue (depending on what he is wearing, like his eyes reflect color where there is none).


I like red, black, and white as a theme.  Like the following character sketch of Thea, occasionally Alexandre prefers the same color scheme.  His lips often appear red (without a touch of lipstick or gloss) due to his pale skin.  In the background is the shadow of Alex's mother, a disgraced nun.


I've showed this drawing of Thea before, but repost it here for comparison with the color rough of her on top.  I still see her in those lovely red shoes.


Another example of how Alex is developing.  Can you feel him?


Thea is starting to "breathe" out from the pages of my sketchbook.

I repost the following from my 1998 sketchbook.  This was the closest I got to Thea and Alex ten years ago.  You can see the personalities emerge.  It seems I imagined them first as being much younger.  Thea's hair is always going to be this lovely silky black occasionally tinted with red or burgundy color.  Alex will always have stark white hair and those pale eyes.


Another comparison posted here just for my reference (and possibly your enjoyment). 
This was the very first conception of Alex and Thea:

I think I imagined them much older first as part of a flashback.  Alex and Thea have matching hair for some reason.  These were sketches done with ink and arcylic paint on tye dye fabric infused with silver.

When I met Bob Kane (creator of Batman) many years ago, he gave me this advice: "If you want to tell a successful story, one that everyone will love, you first have to fall in love with a character you create.  And like any kind of love relationship, you have to nurture them and believe in them, especially when no one else does.  The more you love your character, the chances are other people will grow to love them, too."  Sitting next to him was Will Eisner (creator of influential comic The Spirit) who also imparted this advice to me, "Don't give up on yourself."  I was honored to meet them at the very first comic convention I ever attended.  I had shown them a small comic strip I was working on for my college newspaper and I admited to them that I wasn't yet satisfied with the characters I was working with.  I think they sensed that I wasn't in love with what I was doing or that I was doing as part of some kind of university assignment, that I yearned to tell stories about characters I was more emotionally invested in but wasn't sure anyone else would like.

Anytime I had what I thought was an "original" idea for a story, my writer friends would often scoff at it for its off beated weirdness and my comic art heroes would tell me that it would be impossible to tell my stories in the format of a graphic novel.  No one seemed to care about what I was doing.  I was the only one into it.  I believe that's the same for everyone who dares to imagine something so strong, they can't help but just make their dreams into a book.
 
Mr. Kane and Mr. Eisner were gentlemen in every sense of the word, and that impressed me.  I'm not saying I am like them, but I'm also not saying I want to be like them.  Yet I think about what they told me every time I committ a pen or brush to paper.

Over the last couple years, I have been slowly working on a series of "Fairy Godmother" portraits that I would like to make into a divination card game. Over this last week, I painted 21 more. Each face is getting more and more elaborate, and each has a theme, personality, and meaning. How did I get the idea? Well, I'm a Tarot reader and I am tired of the New Age silly, sugar-coated angel and fairy card decks out there. I want to see something more modern, tongue-in-cheek, gay and pop culture oriented. I think that the real "fairies" in this world are creatures of the night who love to dress in flamboyant clothing, wear make-up, and generally their "look" goes way past that of what is considered a "drag queen." My original concept is that each card is drawn at random and each Fairy Godmother on the card will bring you a certain kind of luck -- basically, they are the Fairy Godmothers who are out there to guide you in this modern world. 

 

I have yet to name each Fairy Godmother.  Some of you might recognize, some are completely original.  Astute viewers will see John Waters in this series (not every Fairy Godmother dresses up in women's clothes).  For the full size painting, check it out here and see how I view John as a Fairy Godmother -- complete with a lovely pink heart on his wide forehead and rosey cheeks.  Looking into his eyes, I see sparkles of laughter and there are a lot of laugh lines in his face.  You just know he's full of mischief!  If you are a John Waters fan like I am, be sure to catch him in the CourtTV series "Til Death Do Us Part" as the Groom Reaper!

 

It was totally unintentional, but the first Fairy Godmother pictured below looks an awful lot like Rosario Dawson as Sin City dominatrix character Gail.  I don't know how that happened.  It's not Gail, I assure you, and nor is that Fairy Godmother Rosario.  However, like both those ladies, she's a spit fire in silver and lace.

 

 

   

 

And here are the first 18 Fairy Godmothers I painted.

See the progression?

 

 

 

 

 

May the luck and blessings of the Fairy Godmothers be with you!

Last week I posted what I thought was a lovely self portrait of me as a Selkie (half-woman, half-seal) but someone out there thought it was offensive.  I don't see what's wrong with it.  So I rescanned the image and have posted it back here.  I find it funny.  It's me laughing a little at myself and it also says a lot about what I think about myself.  So I am fat, no big deal, and I'm not naked in this portrait, I'm fluffy full of white baby seal fur.  I pictured myself as a young seal, not yet fully grown, but definitely not a baby.  I'm sunning myself, totally content, on the snow, without a care in the world.  I don't care what I look like, I only care about how I feel. 

 

 Those of you who may remember, many months ago I posted a pencil drawing of Grimalkin as I would imagine her in the '80s wearing a raspberry beret.  But there was something missing, so I never completed the drawing.  Over the last few days, I was drawn back to this piece.  I began to see a story.  I also realized that the raspberry beret needed a bit of "umph!" to it, a bit more fluff and fanfare.  But then I began to see Melusine with Grimie.  The two of them are in a heated discussion about fashion or shopping, something related to that, not quite sure, it seems to be a private conversation.  In this drawing you can clearly see the size difference between Grimalkin and Melusine.  Mel is much taller, Grimie much smaller.  She's almost a dwarf, really, and often when she is in human form she seems very child-like.  In the bottom left hand corner you will see Grimalkin in her cat form.  When I began to draw the cat, I realized there was even more to the story in this picture.  I believe it's Melusine with Grimie the Cat talking in front of a mirror.  Melusine is showing Grimalkin what she should wear?  You be the judge.

 

Another drawing of Grimalkin, only this time she's knitting with her feline friends.  When I originally posted this drawing, it wasn't quite finished.  It needed a few more cats and Grimie's knitting hands needed to be in correct porportion.  Thanks to Miya for the tips!  This is one for you. 

 

 

 

 

The next three images are updates or revisions (what would be the proper term for a painting you come back to after fifteen years and you re-do it?) of a series of paintings about a fairy godmother.  It was going to be the start of a graphic novel, but I lacked the maturity and confidence to finish it.  This was back in 1993.  After I did a quick re-organizing of my portfolios, I felt the urge to not let these images fade into the obscurity of my upstairs closet.  I cut them out of the original text and added a few new touches of paint.  I think they stand alone very nicely.  Do you agree?

 

One other note: while I was in the middle of this entry, the alarms went off in the university library.  I had to pack up quick and wait for a full forty minutes outside.  Turned out to be a false alarm.  But for a moment, it felt surreal, made me remember it's 9/11 and I got a bit sad, then I got angry because I just knew it was a false alarm.  I wondered if someone was trying to make a point?  As I stood outside with the other students and faculty and watched the fire trucks and emergency personnel slowly leave, I was grateful but anxious to get back to normalcy.  I think that's what I hate most about terrorism, wars, protests, strikes, etc., is that it disrupts things for those of us who are innocent bystanders.  The other day I was talking with a friend and she was so frustrated that she, like many of us, wished to blow some buildings up, but I told her that even a grossly horrible act would ultimately be useless.  I told her she wouldn't do it anyway, not because she didn't have the nerve, but because I said, "You're Batman, not the Joker.  The Joker wouldn't care about harming innocents.  Batman cares.  His sense of justice is stronger than his desire to exact revenge.  The Joker's desire to destruct is stronger than his need for attention.  Yeah.  Be Batman, not the Joker." 

 

Maybe, folks, that's the answer.  Be Batman.

Here is the finished portrait of the Betta merman, Abernathy!


I often don't feel "fat" per say, but fluffy and a bit out of water.  I imagined myself a "snow silkie" bathed in winter sunlight, relaxing on an iceberg.  Here is what I would most likely look like:
*GRRRRR!*  Apparently someone at Photobucket.com thought my silkie self portrait was insulting.  I will repost the image later and rant about it.  I'm forever amazed at what will and what won't freak people out!

Now for a more "serious" self portrait.  I look slightly Asian here because I was squinting in the sun.  This painting is based on this photo.


I did a spiritual self portrait with Mr. Snuggles next to me as an "owl cat" -- you can see his lil' black ears just behind the tiny owl's head, as if my cat is wearing an owl mask.  All around us lingers incense smoke and the vapors of bliss and dreams...  Looking at it, it reminds me of a past life I spent in ancient Egypt. 



I got such a positive response on this painting that I had to post a bigger and better scan of it here.


There is a story developing here based on a few paintings I did back in 2004 as part of a project I started but never finished.  I was attempting to illustrate some obscure Italian Witchcraft folklore straight out of "Aradia, Gospel of the Witches" and I thought it appropriate to repost them here...

Endymion's Dream



Tana and Endymion Embrace


Tana seems to resemble The Girl Who Sleeps on the Other Side of the Comet, don't you think?

She started out as a pale little pencil drawing. 

The color flowed wildly, freely, chased into spirals with a bit of salt and rubbing alcohol.

At first she had rested on her arm, but this distracted from the sphere of light at the center of the comet.

White blended with dark, her hair danced.  The comet shone like a full moon.  Her arm was no longer in the way of the sky.  She is firmly nestled, snoozing in the frozen white of the comet's light.

Water spills universes out.  Cobalt violet and Prussian Blue deepens the space.

No matter what the chaos around her, she is at peace.  A young girl carried away by the force of the comet, forever burning white blue, never burning out.

The finished scene.  Trails of stardust give her motion.  How did she get there? 

Who is she?

Mr. Snuggles sat next to me for the entire duration of the painting process.  His kitty kisses and hugs, peanut butter, and candlelight all helped inspire me!

 

Just wanted to leave you with something more I've worked on.  Enjoy.