Monthly Self Portraits: April

Here's a little cartoon version of myself.

Monthly Self Portraits: March

I don't usually dress up special for my monthly self portraits. However, this month, I combined my March self portrait with my Wet Paint Weekly Workout. The assignment was to create a colorful self portrait inspired by the artwork of Frida Kahlo. So, I put on this fun dress, a head scarf and a little lipstick and started drawing. Also, I normally only spend up to an hour on my monthly self portrait and my workout, but it's been awhile since I've used oil pastels and I forgot how much I love them. I got lost in this piece and the next thing I knew three hours had passed.  As much as I love using markers and paints, I really think that oil pastels are my medium. They just come so naturally to me.

Monthly Self Portraits: February

Here is my February self portrait.  I call it "In motion, going nowhere"

Monthly Self Portraits

I mentioned in a previous post that I spent 2010 drawing a self portrait every month.  This is true.  Each month, I would pick an art material, take an hour or two, and draw or paint my mug. It was fun, but it also grew tiresome.  In May, I was so sick of my face that I drew my legs and that's OK.  I thought I might do this for the rest of my life and have a unique record of my personal growth, be it physical and artistic.  That didn't happen.  But with some urging from my mother, I decided to take it up again.  So, five years later, I present to you my January self portrait.

 January 2015

It looks kind of distorted and like I'm about to cry because this January I feel kind of distorted and like I'm always on the verge of tears.  It was a rough month.

1960s Doppelgangers

 I've always felt like I was born in the wrong era.  I'm not a millenial.  I'm old fashioned.  I love vintage style.  I just never felt like I belonged here.  In reality, I'm glad that I live in this day and age because I do appreciate the opportunities and advantages that I have and I know that I can still maintain a relationship with the past...or with my past self.

Is it just me, or does this 1960s fashion illustration bear a striking resemblance to yours truly?

  I believe in past lives and I take comfort in thinking that maybe another version of me did get to live through my favorite eras and that's why I'm so drawn to them in my current state.

Here's another example of a 1960s doppelganger.  Back in 2010, I did a project where I drew a self portrait every month for a whole year.

That spring, I did a couple of sketches out of a 1960s sewing magazine.

I know, for cute!

A couple months later in June, when looking through my sketchbook, I noticed that my drawing of this woman looked surprisingly like me.

This is mostly due to the fact that I had been drawing myself a lot at the time, but even if I hadn't been so focused on my own image, most people, when drawing somebody else tend to subconsciously adjust features to be more like their own because that's what they're familiar with.  I also changed the color of the shirt to be red instead of blue based on my own style preferences and I didn't indicate that she was blonde.  All of these subtle adjustments to make the drawing my own actually made it a drawing of me.

After five months of self-portraits, I was a little sick of drawing myself, so I said "perfect" and used it for my June self-portrait.

The one tell that this is not an actual drawing of me is the fact that she's wearing shorts.

While this isn't quite the same as a doppelganger because the actual model doesn't look like me, it's an example of how I identify with this era and subconsciously incorporate myself into it.

Anyone else feel drawn to a certain time in history?  Or have you ever found your doppelganger when looking through old photos or magazines or while watching old movies?

Winona Style

Back in October, I was in a play in Winona, MN.  It was a prohibition play set in 1922 and I played the singer in the speakeasy.  No lines, thank god.  It was a great experience and my costume was fabulous.

I spent the week at my in-law's house and while I was there I took the time to draw my outfits.  After the play, I was too busy with whatever it was that I was busy with and never got around to posting these drawings.  So, here they are now.

Wednesday

This sweater dress is too small for me, but it does not stop me from wearing it because despite being too small, it's absolutely perfect.  I wear it as a tunic and usually pair it with a jacket so you can't tell how short the sleeves are.

Thursday

Love this tank top.  I enjoy buying t-shirts at rock concerts, but it's rare that they become a staple in my wardrobe.  This one is in very heavy rotation.

That sweater has seen better days.  It's a vintage letter sweater that belonged to my best friend in high school.  She ended up giving it to me and since then I've replaced all of the buttons (mis-matched, of course) and sewn up the armpits several times.  If I want it to be around much longer, I've got to learn how to patch pits.

Friday

Opening night of my play.

Saturday

The colors in this dress are, in reality, a lot more subdued than they are in this drawing.  Even though I pointed that out, I still think that this outfit is a bit much.

The Bootleg Blues

Here is my costume for the play, The Bootleg Blues.  Instead of utilizing the costume designer for the play, I found this dress by utilizing a costume designer here in the cities.  It's a sheer dress covered in black and gold beading that you wear over a white slip.  While the dress is drool-worthy, it's completely annoying to wear.  It hung too low and the straps kept falling off my shoulders.  I fixed this by wearing this shawl and a gigantic and uber-heavy beaded necklace.  I was also constantly afraid of snagging it on something and covering the floor with beads.  I love the look of 1920s fashion, but find it too fussy in practice.

And here, for the first time on this blog, an actual picture of myself...on the set of The Bootleg Blues.

I Never Win Anything

I love ModCloth.  I think they have a great variety of fun clothes, a good range of sizes, great customer service, and while the prices are sometimes high, they have good sales.  So when I saw that they were having a textile design contest, I was all about it.  I thought, I'm a shoe in.  I have a good eye for color and creating patterns comes very naturally to me.  My only problem was that once I found out about the contest, I only had one week to submit.  I worked at it and this is what I came up with.  Personally, I love these patterns, but of course I'm biased.   

So I submitted on time with all of the required criteria and waited for the results.  Guess what, I didn't make the cut.  When I heard the news, I was a little distraught.  I wanted to know why.  What were these judges looking for?  So I waited until the public voting stage of the contest to see what textile designs were considered better than mine.  I was expecting greatness.  They're good, but not any better.  Once I looked closely at all of the accepted designs, I realized that they're all blue and mauve, two of my least favorite colors.  Really blue and mauve?  What year is it?  

Then I remembered that there was a guest judge who is the costume designer for Portlandia.  I'm guessing that her favorite colors are blue and mauve and that I probably wouldn't like her.

Even though I didn't win this contest, I determined that I'm a natural at textile design and am considering pursuing this further.  Any advice on how that is done would be greatly appreciated.

Catching Up

After a month of bag making, I am back to blogging about my clothes.  I created about a dozen bags and sold many of them at art sales this holiday season.  It's been fun and I'll probably continue to make bags.  Stay tuned for a post-new year Etsy page.  

During my time working in my own personal sweatshop, I did a few outfit drawings for special occasions.

Wedding

Similar dress

Similar jacket

Similar fishnets - Target

Shoes - Schuler shoes

Similar necklace & Earrings

Similar ring

In this outfit, I decided to wear all of my black silk and all of my jade jewelry.  While that sounds crazy, I think it turned out pretty good.  

I really love this dress.  I got it at a vintage store with an awkward group fitting room and when I put it on, all of the other girls in the room went "ooh".  So I bought it.  I thought it would become my little black dress, but because it's silk, I think it's a little fancy to be so versatile.  I've only worn it twice, but I'll probably keep it forever because it's so timeless and unassuming while being completely fabulous.

 Art Sale

Similar blouse - Stephanie's

Skirt

Similar tights - Target

Boots

Similar earrings

I completely butchered the print on this shirt.  It's really more art deco than jagged fangs.

Cabaret

Similar dress

Similar fishnets - Target

Similar shoes - DSW

Similar brooch

Similar earrings

Here's a fun one!  I had the opportunity to sing in the annual Christmas cabaret at Nye's piano bar in Minneapolis.  The dress code for performers was to wear something that we considered to be festive.  I opted for a blue velvet dress, even more appropriate considering I sang Blue Christmas and Pretty Paper.  All I needed to complete my look was some dramatic back lighting and a cigarette.

In Production

The Holidays are approaching, which means that I am in full on production mode.  As an artist, I am usually  invited to participate in a few art and craft sales around this time of year.  As a painter, I don't readily have a whole lot of inventory that can be sold at such sales.  Patrons are looking for gifty purchases under $50.  Most of my paintings are over $100.  These do not sell at art and craft sales.  Because of this, I have gotten creative with what I have to offer.  

Last year I bought a ton of interesting picture frames from Goodwill and framed a bunch of prints of my original artwork.

sampling of framed prints

I sold quite a few of these over the Holidays and since then, but I still have a lot left.  I didn't feel like doing the same thing again this year, so to add on to this lot, I decided to take up one of my old past times - sewing.

I used to try to make my own clothes, but was never very good at it.  I was, however, good at simple sewing, like making pillows and tote bags.  About 6 years ago, I made my first bag for a friend of mine as a gift.  She's been carrying it around every day for 6 years and this is what it looks like today.

It's been well loved, that's for sure!  She asked me to repair it, which I intend to do, but in the meantime, I made her a whole new bag.  It was frustrating at first, working the kinks out of myself and my sewing machine, but once I got the hang of it, I wanted to make more.  After going through my massive fabric collection, I came up with some great patterns that I could mix and match to make a butt load of fun bags.

Here's what I've made so far:

I can't wait to make more!