More Deco Street

Deco Street Fog
8.5" x 11" Acrylic on paper

Deco Street Clear Night

8.5" x 11" Acrylic on paper

What do you think? Which one should I put in an art show? You can see more selections under Deco Street titles in the Archives Section.

This is another version of my Deco Street series. A bit lighter, and loose. A city scene, in black, white, and silver. I've shown a couple of versions of this previously.

The Deco Street paintings were done after I was trying to watch an old, black and white cowboy movie. The stagecoach had passed in the old western town. There was a post with what looked like it might be a sign on the board sidewalk, in front of some stores. Two men, in long, dark coats were standing near the sign. A woman joined them. She was wore a dress with silver spangles on a pointed bodice.

I planned to paint this as a black and white movie, as I saw it, all blurred, and wavey, from my Macular Degeneration and cataracts. I couldn't really make out the characters, either. But, as I painted, what emerged was a scene that looked more like it was from the movie, "42nd Street". I didn't want to name it that, so I changed it to Deco Street. The men in tuxedos, with shiney, black hair, and cigarettes; the woman in her silver spangled dress, hands on hips in a slinky pose; another woman in silhouette, with pulled back hair; an old fashioned street light leads to a park; and a street sign is left blank for the viewer to fill in with whatever they want. It's somewhat of a non-descript street. Fog mingles with the smoke of the city to conceal details of the buildings.
I did keep working to obtain the effect that I was after, and ended up with six different paintings. They all had more detail than I saw and seemed to take on a life of their own!

I'm still struggling with what I want to show in the art show. Entries are due Friday morning.

Besides picking the art work, I'm trying to be sure that I select something that will fit one of my frames. The rules say that they can't be over 38" in width. I have one large frame, ready to go, that is 32 1/2" wide, so I may be able to put something in that. And I have a nice frame that matches "Froggy Went A Courtin'" But, I can't enter two watercolors, I just realized. I may have to just go with the frogs, just to get something in. It would be easier to carry!

I'm also thinking of one of the "Deco Street" paintings. That would be in a different media, since it is acrlyics.

Hopefully, I will have the pictures ready tonight, and can pop them in frames tomorrow. Add the entry forms and I'm ready to go for Friday. But, at this point, I've looked so long that I need a fresh pair of eyes. There is a point when you can't decided which is the best to show. But, after a while, they all start to look bad!

Friday is also the day for entry information to be in for the Art Auction downtown. Actual entries don't have to be in until November 1st and 2nd.

Last night, while trying to watch "The Jazz Singer" on tv, I realized that it is no longer a joy to watch the old silent movies. I can't read what they say, unless I sit in front of the tv. I was kind of interested in this one, since it is so historic, being one of the first movies that "talked". I've seen modern movies about Al Jolsen and "The Jazz Singer", but I had not actually seen the movie. What surprised me was that the dialogue was printed and the "talking" part was the music! I think that I gave up after a while since I couldn't read the words from my bed, and just surfed channels, and I dozed off.

I sort of like those old movies, partly because they show what life was like when my parents were young, and these are the movies that their generation enjoyed. We got in on the "tail end" of those times, in the late '30s and early '40s. And, often, they have really good stories.

Well, back to work.

Thanks so much for your comments and interest. Feel free to pass these along to others who might enjoy them.

Vision-Male Brown Eyes

Male Brown Eyes
Looking At me
8" x 12"
watercolors

The pink swirling clouds that seemed to fill the room after the injection in my eye began to fade to an area of soft light. The female green eye that was revealed in the center of the pink clouds, now changed to two brown male eyes with a little more of the face showing. The skin became more beige or cream colored, where it had previously been the skin tones of someone with red hair. More of a realistic, light flesh tone, now. The entire area showing both eyes, eyebrows, and a bit of the nose, cheeks, and forehead, were directly in front of me. There was a slight tinge of orange on the eyeballs, in the corners and around the lids. Light reflected in the large pupils.

I pushed my head back against the headrest. It was uncomfortable to have this face so close in front of me. But was it really even there?

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

No answers. He just stared at me. He was unfomfortably real.

I was sure, logically, that no one else was in the room with me. But, still, this face was right in front of me. It had changed form from a sideview man with blue eyes and red hair to that man's eye, turning to look at me. Then it had changed to a female green eye, and now it was a male with brown eyes, and both his eyes were staring at me.

I still waited alone, for someone to tell me everything was alright and I could go home.

All I could do was to enjoy the art show, and hope it would soon be interrupted and come to an end. It was keeping me entertained while I waited. Maybe there was someone here with me, to keep me from being being so nervous about the shop, someone to keep me from being bored since I couldn't entertain myself with drawing or even looking at a magazine. Perhaps he was trying to send me some sort of message. Perhaps he was not there at all and was just medicine from the shot floating around in my eye. He seemed too real to be just bubbles of liquid floating around inside my eye.

"Male Brown Eyes" was painted on 140 pound Strathmore watercolor paper with Winsor Newton watercolors. Again, the yellows show up in the scan above, more than they do in the original painting.