to the spirit of winsor mccay
i have thatthere and thishere to say:
you drew like a wizard
your drawings a blizzard
that sculpted your times and today.
winsor mccay
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Tag Archives: portraiture
Crystal GKill, Slam Poet/Dancer
Whether dancing in diaphanous veils, or infusing a slam performance with her lovely singing voice, Crystal GKill is entertaining and astounding. I had the good fortune to run into her at a writing conference in Phoenix last weekend, and she graciously allowed me to take her picture for the purpose of doing this page.
Here are the words to the acrostic:
Crazed challenges make for a slam with zinG
Creation & performance make her sinG
Yet she’s outside the box, not by the booK
You’ll give her 10 to get another looK
Stirred audiences stand & cheer until
All accolades attest to her fine skill
The Emma Thompson Project (6 of 6)
It is no longer Emma Thompson’s birthday in England. It is barely still her birthday here. I wish her many happy returns of the day, and I thank her for so many extraordinary performances, for her heart on her sleeve, and for being her age (56 now) and being it in style. I love you, Emma!
Emma Thompson — sidebar
Tomorrow is a special day. The Emma Thompson Project, Segment 6 of 6, will be published. I will then move on to other matters, and the magnificent Ms. Thompson may breathe a sigh of relief. (I’m NOT a stalker, but I seem to be playing one on WordPress. 🙂 )
Meanwhile, all but one of the images that follow may be considered in the same vein that a rocker’s bootlegs may. They are unofficial, not part of the Project, just “I didn’t go yet” loosening-up. The page with the sonnet, though, will play a part in Segment 6. If I can wrestle the sonnet into a less forced-seeming array, I will. But if not it will be on the final image word for word. It is a more ambitious job of wordsmithing than the one I did for Theodore Sturgeon: fourteen lines, iambic pentameter, double acrostic saying EMMA THOMPSON IS EXTRAORDINARY, mutant Petrarchan rhyme scheme, with exactly one of her past, present or future movies or series resident on every line. The extraordinary Emma Thompson, intuition says, must have an extraordinary sonnet.
The Emma Thompson Project (5 of 6)
This time round the artist tried too hard. The elusive likeness was approached, lost, briefly glimpsed, and lost again. Finally a little confidence was gained, strangely enough, when the cause was seen as lost and there was nothing to lose.
The Emma Thompson Project (4 of 6)
Today I fought impatience, clumsiness, and the distraction of the 3rd round of the PGA Master’s tournament, alternating between study-sketches of Emma Thompson with her costars Dustin Hoffman and Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Emma Thompson with three other Emma Thompsons. Catching her likeness is still a hit-or-usually-miss proposition. I have trouble with her chin, her exquisite but caricaturish mouth, and her overall likeness, which in my still-incapable hand ranges from Cate Blanchettish to Florence Hendersonish. Persistence and practice will take care of that, I hope.
Here are the images:
Kate & Her Pop
Long ago a little girl and her dad sang a song to the tune of the theme of “Animaniacs,” a popular cartoon of the time:
We’re KATIE and her Pop
And we NEVER EVER stop
We hope that we don’t flop
A bunny is a lop
Katie AND her
Come and take a GANDer
Jason AlexANDer
Katie and her Pop!
(And we don’t stop!)
Well, those days are forever gone, but the young woman the little girl became still has plenty of mischief in her, and her Old Dad has his fond memories. Daughter and father get together every so often, most recently three days ago on her 25th Birthday, where they had Movie and a Dinner. Next planned outing is a midnight showing of AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. They’ve been great Movie Buddies since Disney’s Aladdin, and there’s no sign of stopping.
The Happy Conclusion of the Stan Getz Project
I am thrilled to report that the Stan Getz drawing, prepared for, executed, and framed, has been delivered to the gentleman who commissioned it, and he has indicated that he is completely satisfied with the result. He also added a $20 bonus to the $200 we agreed on at the outset. The above image is the drawing in the frame, cropped to preserve the anonymity of the owner, who is holding the framed drawing so that I could take a picture of it.
Previously, I’d taken pictures of the drawing, and also tried scanning it in halves and splicing the halves, since it was too big to fit on the scanner bed. Here’s that spliced image, photoedited for color and drama:
Before we parted company my friend and benefactor paid me a compliment that I’ll gladly keep. He’d seen Stan Getz portrait attempts, and many of the artists ALMOST got him, but not quite; “but you got him.” Now that makes my day, and makes me smile.
Stan Getz – take five, Stan
For my fifth and final Stan Getz facial detail, I used a photo of him at rest. He looks like he’d put in a rugged session either recording or performing. Through his tired eyes I saw vulnerability and need.
The Stan Getz commissioned drawing is finished. Tomorrow I will deliver it. I’ll never hear jazz the same way again–that’s a good thing indeed.
Stan Getz (take 2 of 5)
Here is the “Seasoned” Stan Getz, who has faced acclaim, disaster, and dislocation. He’s been around the block plenty. No one can match his Sound.
