The Cactus Stays
Often times I paint over some of my used canvases because the art was initially created as a quick sketch or teaching exercise. Yet every so often one gets in with the family.
Carrie at the Salon by Deborah Willis
Carrie in the Salon photo by Deborah Willis. The experience of black hair salons and what this scared space actually means. Understood as a non-negotiable experience used to uplift and protect our crowns. This is my take on the art work.
Oshun: African Goddess of Love
This is a depiction of an Oshun, an African deity. The goddess of love, prosperity, order and fertility.
How to Shade Your Drawing
In these lessons I will show you four different shading techniques that are super easy to implement into your art projects.
Dancing Figures by Richard Bruce Nugent
Dancing Figures by Richard Bruce
“Making History: Meta Warrick Fuller’s Ethiopia,” by Renée Ater
At the same time, Ethiopia's message was assimilationist in the way it was exhibited at a "melting pot" event, representing the emancipation of a people attempting to prove their value to a society that had long excluded blacks from full involvement as United States citizens.[2]
Read more “Making History: Meta Warrick Fuller’s Ethiopia,” by Renée Ater
Cheryl Finley – Art Historian
Dr. Finley’s works also published this year, My Soul Has Grown Deep: Black Art from the American South (Yale University Press, 2018), accompanies the exhibition History Refused to Die: Highlights from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York through September 23, 2018.
Poetic Justice Alim Smith – Yesterday Nite
I enjoyed this story so much that during college I almost got a tattoo of "poetic justice" in Arabic on my lower back. You know the kind and please don't ask me why? Why not? And Arabic? It was a phase and the written language so lovely. And I still don't have any tattoos but that's not what this is about!
Every Woman by Monica Stewart
Every Woman by Monica Stewart
6 Month Portrait Studies
After I finished this exercise I sent it to him. But the I thought. Wait, what will happen if I do this again in a few months? It looks good to me now but in a few months it may not.
The Package Arrived: Art Shipment Update
I forgot to update you guys about this but that art package I sent to my grandmother arrived!
Lipstick Speed Painting
Speed Painting of Lipstick & My thoughts and experience with filming my work. Learning to let go, enjoy the process and PAINT....because that’s what it’s really about.
Packaging & Shipping Art (16 inches by 20 inches)
Packaging a 16 inch by 20 inch canvas sounds easy to say but with two small children, a husband and working overnights, what should have been a seemingly small task to complete turned into....something much more time consuming and I'm so glad I did some test shipping.
Large Canvases – Acrylic & Interior House Painting
Last spring, the arts and crafts store Michaels had a sale on large level three canvases so purchased a few. I've never painted on such large canvases before so I was excited about the experience. For whatever reason in my mind, I didn't think there would be much of a difference working on a large surface. I don't know why I thought this.
Read more Large Canvases – Acrylic & Interior House Painting
Upcycling Your Own Art
A few weeks back I went through all my artworks and decided that some of these works could use some work. I don’t know about you but after a few years of holding onto these artworks I decided to revamp them or upcycle them. Basically I said these old canvases could use a makeover. I…
Beach Landscape Painting – Upcycled Art
Here is one of the upcycled large canvases I added to our living room. Before the beach scene, the canvas was an abstract art piece. I was exploring colors and shapes. See the next images. I was completely filled with joy that I was able to create such a large art work. And I became…
Book: Augusta Savage Renaissance Woman
I initially was attracted to her story because of the fact she didn't let her personal life overshadow her career. As a working woman with children it can be difficult to find that balance. Especially, as a working African American woman in the arts during a very difficult time period. She paved the way for artists of color, women and inspired many sculptors, painters and more. Augusta Savage was an artist, educator and activist, a true Renaissance woman.
Portrait Studies
The portrait below is my seventh of the same one, it's not complete but it does get a little better each time. My peer's critiques don't sting as much and my ability to focus while painting has increased. I'm practicing patience which is like pulling teeth, but I think this is my take away. I always want it right now but that's not how life works and with creating art and writing I'm slowly learning....patience. I don't know the ending of this journey but I am enjoying the ride and I'm enjoying sharing it with you.
Architecture Studies
When I was younger I would stare at the ceiling imagining gravity dropping and floating upwards placing my feet onto the surface and walking around. It was a fun past time. I did the same daydreaming at LAX airport recently however this time I took a few photos.
Neptune Thurston – Portrait Painter
It was even discovered that Neptune Thurston taught artist, Gilbert Stuart how to paint heads and faces.**
“My Soul Has Grown Deep”
My Soul Has Grown Deep considers the art-historical significance of contemporary Black artists and quilters working throughout the southeastern United States and Alabama in particular. See sources for more Information.
Thornton Dial – Artist
"Art is strange-looking stuff and most people don’t understand art. Most people don’t understand my art, the art of the Negroes, because most people don’t understand me, don’t understand the Negroes at all. If everybody understand one another, wouldn’t nobody make art. Art is something to open your eyes. Art is for understanding." ~Thornton Dial [1]
Eartha Kitt (From “Anna Lucasta”) by Charles White
In a recent blog post about Dr. Kellie Jones, I found this art work by Charles White one of the artist discussed in South of Pico. I absolutely love Eartha Kitt and had to know more about this artwork.
Read more Eartha Kitt (From “Anna Lucasta”) by Charles White
South of Pico by Kellie Jones
In South of Pico Kellie Jones explores how the artists in Los Angeles's black communities during the 1960s and 1970s created a vibrant, productive, and engaged activist arts scene in the face of structural racism. Emphasizing the importance of African American migration, as well as L.A.'s housing and employment politics, Jones shows how the work of black Angeleno artists such as Betye Saar, Charles White, Noah Purifoy, and Senga Nengudi spoke to the dislocation of migration, L.A.'s urban renewal, and restrictions on black mobility.
Chorus Lines, Rhythm & Blues: Artist Archibald J. Motley Jr.
I think I’ve fallen in love with this art piece. Excerpt from Nasher, Motley was 70 years old when he painted the oil on canvas, Hot Rhythm, in 1961. This painting explores one of Motley’s favorite subjects, the jazz age. The artist loved to walk the streets of Bronzeville, a once-thriving neighborhood in Chicago’s South…
Read more Chorus Lines, Rhythm & Blues: Artist Archibald J. Motley Jr.
“Glory” inspires Quiet Pride: The Elizabeth Catlett Project
Elizabeth Catlett's "Glory" inspires music. The sculptures of the late African-American artist and civil rights activist Elizabeth Catlett are the inspiration for a new jazz composition. Rufus Reid, a bass musician who's been playing jazz for half a century, uses Catlett's artwork to explore the intersection between music and the visual arts. In his new project, called "Quiet Pride," Reid tries to convey Catlett's sculptures in sound. [1]
Read more “Glory” inspires Quiet Pride: The Elizabeth Catlett Project
“Singing Head” by Elizabeth Catlett
Elizabeth Catlett, Singing Head, 1980, black Mexican marble, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 16 x 9 1/2 x 12 in. (40.7 x 24.2 x 30.5 cm.)
“Untitled” New Orleans Series by Gwendolyn Knight, 1941
"Untitled" New Orleans Series by Gwendolyn Knight, 1941
Read more “Untitled” New Orleans Series by Gwendolyn Knight, 1941
Renee Cox – Artist & Photographer
Renee Cox continues to question society and the roles it gives to blacks and women with her elaborate scenarios and imaginative visuals that offend some and exhilarate others.[2]
Harriet Powers – Folk Artist
Harriet Powers used traditional techniques in her quilts to record local legends, Bible stories and astronomical events on her quilts. One of the panels on Powers quilts illustrate the “dark day” of May 19, 1780 (which is now known as dense smoke over North America caused by Canadian wildfires) and the November 13, 1833, as the “night of falling stars” that convinced many terrified Americans that Judgment Day had come, but was later identified as the Leonid meteor storm. Two of her quilts are on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC; Bible Quilt of 1886 and Pictorial Quilt of 1898.[2]
