"Dear Trixie"

"Dear Trixie" posthumous portrait of our lovely friend Lisa Hammer, pen name Trixie Kitsch,
29 x 22" mixed media


Lisa was kind and generous, a talented artist and writer, she had a biting sense of humor
and a heart of gold. She saw through our veneer and loved our souls.
The world lost a great woman at Valentine's week, 2014.

Farewell Dear Trixie, this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you. 

"Thinking Itself Is Love - Self Portrait with Brain Tumor"

"Thinking Itself Is Love (Self Portrait with Brain Tumor)"
16 x 8" mixed media

After thinking about this project for over a year, I finally made this self portrait. I used references from my MRI scans that were taken before neurosurgery to remove a benign Meningioma brain tumor. I am doing very well, nearly two years post-op. Thank you to everyone who supported me during this most trying time of my life. I really don't know where I would be without all of you.

I have spent a great deal of time thinking about how a broken heart might effect the mind and physical and mental health. Forgiveness and Love are always the answer. 

"…the heart is not broken, in the sense that it does not exist before the break. But it is the break itself that makes the heart. The heart is not an organ, and neither it is a faculty. It is: that I is broken and traversed by the other where its presence is most intimate and its life is most open. The beating of the heart - rhythm of the partition of being, syncope of the sharing of singularity - cuts across presence, life, consciousness. That is why thinking - which is nothing other than the weighing or testing of the limits, the ends, of presence, of life, of consciousness - thinking itself is love."

 ~ Jean Luc Nancy, Shattered Love

Tim: Portrait Commission

This portrait was commissioned by the subject, great character is evident!

"Tim" 20 x 16" carbon pencil on ivory French Rives paper.

Full composition

Detail

Commission Works

I've been catching up on commissioned artworks, now that I'm post-black butterfly exhibition. Here are two of the most recent, both in pastel, and another commissioned drawing with Guinness wash is in the works. It's always a grace to work on something special for a patron, it's even more rewarding if they are pleased with the results, which is the case with each of these.

I've also been busy with shows the past few months, selling a few things, and 2 group shows coming up in January.

Happy New Year, Peace On Earth! ~ Alice



"Terra and Egan" Siblings in soft pastel on sanded paper. 16"H x 20"W



"Swan Nebula" Pastel on sanded paper, 26 x 36" Private collection, Las Vegas NV.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

"I knew that I had come face to face with some one whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself." ~ Oscar Wilde ~ The Picture of Dorian Gray






My solo show is scheduled to open at 33 Collective Gallery on September 18th. I have just a couple more wall holes to fill before then. “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (36" x 28" charcoal on Mylar drafting film in vintage mirror frame) is another work for Black Butterfly: The Muse, my series inspired by the arts, with my subjects coming from the various artistic disciplines.

This is a portrait of artist/musician/model Ryan Dies. I met Ryan in an art jewelry shop, “1 ofmykind jewels” during a recent trip to the historic town of Galena, Illinois. Ryan was friendly and engaging right off. He was wearing a heavy beaded choker of his own design and looked so handsome I couldn’t resist asking him if I could take a few photographs to be used for a drawing. Ryan was happy to pose for the references, and the natural light was beautiful that day. Peacock feathers and ornate gilt mirror frames were part of the décor of the shop, so ideas for the drawing were formed almost immediately during the shoot. We had a nice conversation about the Chicago art scene and I talked with Ryan about a couple of his very good surrealist paintings that were on display. Later as I looked through the photos I decided Ryan would make the perfect model for a contemporary “Dorian Gray.”
The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published novel by the Irish poet Oscar Wilde. It is a story about a handsome young man who becomes enthralled with the idea of a new hedonism. He begins to indulge in every kind of pleasure, moral and immoral.

I used a compilation of several of the reference photos from Ryan’s shoot for the finished drawing. The peacock feathers seemed a natural symbol for Dorian’s pride in his physical appearance, the pride that made him wish to never grow old. I took liberties by changing Ryan’s existing forearm tattoo to one with a butterfly and poppy flowers – symbols for transformation and for “Dorian’s” travels to an opium den as a way to escape his crimes. I decided to add the skull ring on Dorian’s hand – a design by Jodie McGill of 1 ofmykind. I thought the skull was very appropriate as a reference to the plot of Wilde's novel. The butterflies in this work refer to Dorian’s muse: his own handsome mirror image; saved from corruption by the putrefying portrait that grows more horrifying with each sin committed by his increasingly evil character. I decided that I’d prefer to keep the decaying “picture” implied only, by using the ornate mirror frame to display this work.

Outside of physical beauty there is no comparing Ryan’s pleasant personality with the ugly character of Dorian Gray. He has been delightful to work with and I look forward to following this talented young man’s career.

Here's a fun and appropriate related video. Enjoy!

Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)

From the “Black Butterfly: The Muse” series, installation portrait of John Lennon, charcoal on Mylar drafting film, 15 x 14” in vintage lighted corner shrine box, overall 20 x 18 x 10.” The translucent Mylar allows the back lighting to shine through the drawing. There is a small installation on the built-in shelf of the box: a traditional Indian oil lamp and incense burner, and a photo of Lennon with second wife Yoko Ono, from the cover of “The Wedding Album” (1969.) There will eventually be a real decoupage butterfly on the upper portion of the box. In the photo, I have taped a temporary one to the box to show placement.

John Winston Ono Lennon, (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980) was an English rock musician, singer, songwriter, artist and peace activist and one of the founding members of The Beatles. My installation piece is inspired by the John Lennon 1970 single Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) and incorporates references to the Beatles trip to India in 1968 to study Transcendental Meditation. Lennon’s resemblance to Jesus in the portrait is intentional as an acknowledgment of his March 4, 1966 statement to the press: “(The Beatles are) more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first-rock 'n' roll or Christianity.”

In February 1968, the flower-power counterculture was alive and well, flourishing in a village called Rishikesh in the Himilayan foothills. There, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was offering a three-month course in transcendental meditation.

While other swamis were offering traditional spiritual instruction in modest huts along the banks of the Ganges, the Maharishi had constructed an air-conditioned ashram — surrounded by barbed wire — for the comfort and privacy of celebrity acolytes such as actress Mia Farrow, Beach Boy Mike Love, folk singer Donovan and, of course, John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Symbolism:

In Hinduism, the lotus (water lily) primarily represents beauty and non-attachment. The lotus is rooted in the mud but floats on the water without becoming wet or muddy. This symbolizes how one should live in the world in order to gain release from rebirth: without attachment to one's surroundings. Water has been an object of worship since a very early age among the Hindus, and plays an important role even today in Hindu religious rites. During all purification rites, water is sprinkled on the object to be purified. The butterfly is symbolic to me as Lennon’s muse, or inspiration, and in this case, is also a symbol for transformation in the afterlife.

I used several different reference photos of John Lennon combined to create this unique image. The clouds across his forehead are taken from the cover of Lennon's "Imagine" album. The mosaic backdrop is from photos of the John Lennon Imagine memorial mosaic at Strawberry Fields in Central Park in New York City. The Lotus reference was taken by my good friend Lindybird.

I listened to John Lennon’s music, and covers of it as well, throughout the drawing process. I was frequently moved to tears by the fact that so many of the lyrics are still relevant today.

~ Imagine Peace! ~ Alice

(For my September solo exhibition, the installation will be placed in a darkened corner of the gallery, and there will be more items related to John Lennon’s life included on a pedestal.)

Studio music:

“Imagine” John Lennon
“Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur”
“Across the Universe Soundtrack”


Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) lyrics

Songwriter: John Winston Lennon

Instant Karma's gonna get you,
Gonna knock you right on the head,
You better get yourself together,
Pretty soon you're gonna be dead,
What in the world you thinking of,
Laughing in the face of love,
What on earth you tryin' to do,
It's up to you, yeah you.

Instant Karma's gonna get you,
Gonna look you right in the face,
Better get yourself together darlin',
Join the human race,
How in the world you gonna see,
Laughin' at fools like me,
Who on earth d'you think you are,
A super star,
Well, right you are.

Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun,
Well we all shine on,
Ev'ryone come on.

Instant Karma's gonna get you,
Gonna knock you off your feet,
Better recognize your brothers,
Ev'ryone you meet,
Why in the world are we here,
Surely not to live in pain and fear,
Why on earth are you there,
When you're ev'rywhere,
Come and get your share.

Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun,
Yeah we all shine on,
Come on and on and on on on,
Yeah yeah, alright, uh huh, ah-.

Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun,
Yeah we all shine on,
On and on and on on and on.

Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun.
Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun.
Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun.
Yeah we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun.

“Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur”