Some of the "Taheerah" Paintings and Drawings

For a change, I thought I would post a group of drawings and paintings done over the last couple of  years.  The last two drawings, a pastel of a reclining woman and a graphite drawing of gestures, have not been posted elsewhere on this blog.

These all have the same model, Taheerah.  She is a working artist, mainly doing animation.

She is one of my favorite models.  Even though none of these works are "likenesses," you may recognize her distinctive regal confidence in other drawings and paintings I have posted within the last couple of years.

The top drawing, a pastel, is the first drawing I did with Taheerah as model, and it is still a favorite of mine. 

For the curious, here's a list of the rest of my posts featuring Taheerah as model:  March 1, 2012; June 11, 2011; January 24, 2011; December 2, 2010; November 23, 2010; and September 7, 2010.

My drawing of Taheerah titled "Floating Woman" was also used, with my permission, to illustrate this blog essay by Margaret Diehl.

NATURE WATCH:

Tacodeli goes to the dog.

UPDATE . . . 

on Daniela Rossell and her book of photographs, Ricas y Famosas: 

I now have a copy of  Ricas y Famosas.  The photos are gorgeous, and the context of the work is much clearer.

The photos, taken together, are beautiful and strange.  They also tell a bit about wealth in Mexico; how the very very rich live. Rossell is a member of this privileged group.  Like photos of extreme poverty, these photos make you aware of extraordinary disparities in society.

She started this series of photos with a core of close family and friends and expanded outward from there.  The subjects decided how and where and with what objects they would be photographed.  They are mostly women.  They are mostly rich, though some are not (several are servants of the very rich).  They are all fascinating.

Flower Seller on a Cool Morning (Work in Progress)

Update:  One thing I'm thinking of is changing the composition to enlarge the bouquet, so that it fills the upper right quadrant of the painting, something like the mock-up, above.

Below, is the painting as it looks, now.  Still a work in progress.

I'm going to put it aside for awhile and then re-evaluate the composition.

 


Flower Seller on a Cool Morning: oil paint on 30"x40" canvas. Still a work in progress.

 Meanwhile, be sure to check out the swimming turtle, on my other blog.

Initial sketch

This is what I hope will be my second painting from my visit to the Vancouver, Washington farmers market.

I'm painting on a larger scale: this canvas is 30"x40." It's also a canvas that is fresh out of the wrapper (very unusual for me, since I tend to use and re-use my painting supports).

Anyway, since I actually had a white canvas to start, I decided to plan my painting directly on the canvas. I used my dark oil bar to lay down some lines that, while I will soon paint over them, at least give me some assurance that what I'm thinking of can fit well on the canvas.

My plan is to keep adding Flower Seller posts as I paint (this is this morning's work), until I either complete the painting or it morphs into something else.