Daily Creativity: Love Reading – Love Your Body

Love Reading - Daily Creativity - Love Your BodyDaily Creativity: Love Reading – Love Your Body

I love reading, and the photo (by and I believe of PinUpRubyMoon on tumblr) that inspired this piece made me think that the composition was all about someone loving reading and being engrossed in a book. Taking that into account I though I’d paint this in the colors of books, leather and paper. So I limited my pallet to browns and slight yellows. The title could use some work, but I’m not the best at naming pieces. If you’ve been following my Daily Creativity project you already know this.  I’m putting this also in the Love Your Body series of paintings though it’s not a nude and it’s not focused primarily on a body. There is a body, but to me the main idea of the composition is reading.

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Daily Creativity: Gabourey Sidibe – Part of my Love Your Body Series

Gabourey Sidibe - Love Your BodyDaily Creativity: Gabourey Sidibe – Part of my Love Your Body Series

I’m a huge fan of Gabourey Sidibe, ever since she came on the scene I have loved her. She’s amazingly talented, she has made me cry, cheer, and feel so many emotions through her acting. She seems to have an amazing attitude and personality and is a personal role model on how to deal with haters.  She’s also sexy as hell and so beautiful, I have a bit of a girl crush on her.  I’ve drawn her before, but I think this is the first time I painted her. This is also the first time I’ll be tweeting her my art, I’m really happy with this piece. I love the pose and composition so much, and hope I did the photo justice. (it’s from a magazine shoot, if you know which one let me know and I will credit it. I found the image around the net uncredited.)

4×6 Watercolor

Work in progress pictures below

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Daily Creativity: Embarking on Self Love! Love Your Body

Embarking on Self Love - Love Your Body - Daily CreativityEmbarking on Self Love, another piece in the Love Your Body series. This was inspired by a conversation about some fat shaming art and I wanted to turn the title of that art into something positive and uplifting. I painted my figure in yellows and oranges because I wanted her to seem like she was glowing, glowing with love. I then used a heart to be perhaps a little too literal about the concept, but it also marches some oil paintings I’ve done for a show, but not shared online, yet. Looking in a mirror is one of the most evocative images I can think of when it comes to self image, so I think that fits too.  I painted this in watercolors much like many of my other recent paintings. I really like the control and color that I get from watercolor. Plus it lets me paint without spending multiple days on a project and having to wait over a week for it to dry.

Daily Creativity: Lush Bath time – Love Your Body

Lush Bath - Love Your Body - Daily CreativityDaily Creativity: Lush Bath time – Love Your Body

I love Lush Bath products, and tonight I had a good soak (always good on Aikido nights), as I looked down at myself in the bath I was reminded of the Venus of Willendorf. Many believe the statue was created as a self portrait, that the perspective suggests someone looking down at themselves and gathering the proportions from the neck down. I thought of that as I looked at myself in the bath and tried to remember the shapes that made up my body for drawing later. I’m not sure I got where my knees were bent right, it was from memory so that can be hard. I was sitting up keeping my legs in the water to let the heat work on my knees.  I also noticed how the pink water created an illusion that the negative space around my body was more noticeable than my body, so I thought to recreate that in the drawing. Using the colors of the bath bomb I recreated the image as best I could. This year my art has become a lot more self referential, which makes me feel really vulnerable. Though I think drawing abstract lets me maintain a little privacy.  It’s a strange feeling sharing this with the world, and yet it feels really good to appreciate myself like this, to find the beauty in the shapes that make up me.

5×7 Colored Pencils on Paper, part of the Love Your Body series

Daily Creativity: Love Your Body

Love Your Body inspired by the Fat Naked Art ProjectDaily Creativity: Love Your Body

The Love Your Body series is near and dear to my heart. This sketch is done from a photograph taken for the Fat Naked Art Project by Durham photographer Heather Kolaya, and you should click that link to see the original image and explore their site for some inspiring photos. I love her energy and her smile.

5×7 colored charcoal on paper.