Channelling Chuck Close-Self Portrait

Chuck Close is an artist that I am studying. I used his later work to inspire this self portrait.

For those of you who have never heard of Chuck Close, he is an artist who earned his claim to fame by being a master of the photorealist painting on a massive scale. All these years I thought these ginormous paintings were photographs, but they were actually paintings. For example, the black and white portrait on the back wall in the photo below is one of these realistic paintings. You can find it at the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts.

In 1988, Close suffered from a spinal artery collapse which paralyzed him. He continued to paint on a large scale, but he has since had to adapt his style. Now he paints portraits focusing on one block at a time. The result is stunning.

Here's an example of his later work featured on wikipedia:

For those of you who have heard of Chuck Close, I am sorry for the inept biography I just presented.

She's baaaaaaack.

A few months ago I wrote a post on how I feel like I could have been the little girl in the Georges Seurat painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. You see, I have an infinity to this particular painting. Wait---Maybe I didn't reveal the insane notion that I could have been the little girl in that painting...cause that would be, well, that would be craaaaazzzzyyy. I don't really believe that, of course, but you have to admit that the little girl in this Seurat is very unsettling and looks like another bratty toddler Jana.

Can you see her?

For heaven's sake, WHERE ARE HER PARENTS!?!?! And she's facing the painter directly. Creep-y.  So eerie.

She's just standing in the middle of this like the little girl in Men In Black. You know the one who is holding the book on astrophysics as she walks through a dark alleyway writhe with aliens. Then Will Smith shoots her cardboard cut out and Tommy Lee Jones has to stop the testing process. Please, someone get that reference. She's a little too much like that. She's gotta be an alien.

It gets even creepier up close.  Go ahead, go Cameron on this one too.

If there's anyone who still reads this blog, I'm sorry I've been absent for so long. Life got really busy. It's good to be back though.

I hope my readers are doing swell.

John Singer Sargent

I just finished reading one of the worst books I have ever read.  At least it was short and quickly over.  Gee, the television show it was based on is so good. Where did I go wrong?

New rule: Never read a book based on a television show.

This rule should apply to books based on movies inspired by an original book as well. Didn't Michael Scott read the "novelization of the movie Precious based on the book Push by Sapphire"? Or was he just listening to it on audio tape? That brings me to a WHOLE other debate...If one listens to a book on tape, can they claim that they have read that book? You can voice your opinion below.
Back to this atrocious book. It felt like it was written by an amateur who had to meet a deadline and sloppily churned it out to his/her publisher over a weekend.
The only redeeming quality of this book was that a large portion of it was about an art collection. And it led to my discovery of this:
 

"Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose" by John Singer Sargent is mentioned as one of the protagonist's favourite paintings. And the print is later given to her as a gift. I could see why she loved it. 
 

I had not been incredibly familiar with Sargent's work, but as it turns out, I have had a postcard of one of his paintings in my room for many years now. The painting, "In the Luxembourg Gardens at Twilight" made quite the impression on me, so much so that I had to purchase its postcard form in the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts gift shop after the tour.  I don't know if I can describe why it moves me, but I think it may reside in the motion of the piece. It looks as if the subjects are still moving and the smoldering lighting drapes a romantic mood upon the scene. I really liked what this blogger had to say about it. http://artdurkee.blogspot.com/2007/01/john-singer-sargent-appreciation.html
 
Here are several other paintings by Sargent that I admire.
 
The reflected clouds are stunning.

 

And like many artists and musicians, Sargent was close friends with other talented artists like himself. Apparently he was close to Claude Monet. "He did landscapes." If you ask me,they should be featured on the Awesome People Hanging Out Together site.