Money Whales and Wolverines

Posted on January 26, 2015 by AM Roselli

My Friends,
This weekend I sketched a gentle humpback whale and an uncooperative wolverine. When uncertain with specific morphology, drawing animals can be challenging. My bathtub is a tad tight for a frolicking whale, and I dare say a feisty wolverine would snack on Mojo the Dachshund. Since I can’t have a play-date with a whale or wolverine, I need to rely on resources. I use my general knowledge to imagine the subject first then roughly sketch out a preferred pose. Next, I research multiple image sources and study them noting specific characteristics. I move on to studio reference books, i.e. Animals in Motion. I use this text to get a sense of bodyweight and movement. Finally, I combine this visual knowledge with a bit of improvisation to render a critter I can call my very own. This is important if one hopes to get published and have no concerns over royalties or copyright issues.
I’d like to introduce you to my newest friends, Henry Humpback and Willard Wolverine born today.

Below Henry and Willard’s pencil sketch, is a post from January 2014 – my first month into blogging. It mentions whales. Notice the clever segue 😉

Posted January 2014

My daughter is in tenth grade. Today she will peruse college course offerings with an eye toward the future. She’s unsure what she wants to do, or who she wants to be. She’s interested in two things – marine biology and making money. At the tender age of fourteen, whatever she decides will probably change. But as long as she’s filled with cockeyed-optimism, she can keep a positive outlook ~~when~~ if they begin downsizing at her job.

I wonder if there is an employment opportunity out there for rescuing money-spouting whales. 🙂

Thank you. May you and your pet wolverine dream of sitting in a whale’s belly for some quality reading time.

The Truth About My Art

Posted on January 21, 2015 by AM Roselli

My Friends,
When someone places an artist’s hat upon my head, I often feel unworthy. I’m not glued nightly to a canvas. I’m not angst-ridden at 3 am. I don’t take myself very seriously.

The truth about my art…
There isn’t a prestigious fine art degree, but there is greatly advanced naiveté.
There haven’t been decades of rendering, but there have been years of creative struggle.
There isn’t an artist hiding in my house, but there is one hiding in my brain.
There isn’t a grand studio filled with en plein air studies and sable brushes in old coffee cans.
There is a room off the kitchen built with a hammer and nails,
by a creative husband for his emotional wife.

Self/acrylic

I hope this painting (featured once before) keeps my blog’s PG13 rating – as I consider these subjects nude, but not naked 🙂
Thank you. May you dream of wearing many hats and loving them all.

Self is one of my larger acrylic pieces – 4 ft x 4 ft. Painted in 1997 (if memory serves)

Ra, Ra, Cursive No Mah

Posted on January 8, 2015 by AM Roselli

My Friends,
“In 1928, in Egypt, a strange device is found by an expedition. In the present days, the outcast linguist Dr. Daniel Jackson is invited by a mysterious woman to decipher an ancient hieroglyph in a military facility.” – Stargate. The giant husband was watching this 1994 ‘futuristic’ movie last night.

In the brief synopsis above the words, linguist, decipher and hieroglyph whisper like hidden pyramid treasures. Between fake Ra maiming humans and an awkward linguist deciphering glyphs, Stargate fashioned a perfect springboard for utilizing my Egyptian fella and chatting about the demise of handwriting. Centuries before we touched screens, our fingers created cryptic images, developed fascinating symbols and pressed elegant writing implements in thought.

In the Fall of 2014, the giant husband and I attended the delicate daughter’s Honor Society Ceremony. Yes, we were proud. She works very hard and strives to do well. The irony in this celebratory evening was that many bright students, the delicate daughter included, took a long time signing the Honor Ledger. Signing in cursive didn’t come naturally to them. And why would it, when third grade was the last time they practiced loops and lines.

Today while we record our history electronically, many students struggle with the very concept of handwriting. Human history was born the instant we began writing it down. Our ‘current’ history is saved to digital devices, removable media and clouds in the ozone. A solar flare, an electrical burst…yikes! We might want to rethink the importance of handwriting especially since synthetic paper can be made from recycled plastic. We can label the return to handwriting – Retro Ink. Maybe the kiddies will think it’s something cool. And perhaps we could use a slogan like – When you think, put it in ink!
Ra is the Egyptian Sun God and Father of the Gods. He symbolizes light, warmth and growth.

We grow by learning. We learn by reading. We read by writing… Thank you. May you dream of sailing on beautiful cursive letters with golden sails.

Ra created about one month ago for what reason I’m not sure other than to say I initially was planning to do some sort of bird… The pencil wants what the pencil wants. 🙂
Stargate Movie synopsis quote from IMDb.com

Sending thoughts of peace to France…

The Flesh Failures

Posted on June 16, 2014 by AM Roselli

Dear Friends,
Whenever I sub I think back to my years as a young student. There was always a class clown and perhaps another child or two who were regular troublemakers. The rare days when a substitute entered the classroom, we might not work as hard, but we didn’t act out. We listened without requiring numerous ultimatums to do what we knew was right (at least in school). Today, something is different.

I’ve been thinking about Hair, and the generation this musical represented. The Sixties was a time of ‘fighting’ for the concept of freedom and what that freedom meant individually. In this generation there were hippies, beatniks, flower children, nudists, love ins…right or wrong this generation was authentic.

Today’s children see and hear adult fare and emulate what they don’t understand. They latch onto wearing Bob Marley shirts without knowing what the man and his music represented, etc.. Often times when I sub, I remind students that education is the first thing taken away when others want control of their precious freedom. So, they might want to pay attention once in a while…

HAIR
(lyrics: The Flesh Failures/Let the Sunshine In)
We starve-look
At one another
Short of breath
Walking proudly in our winter coats
Wearing smells from laboratories
Facing a dying nation
Of moving paper fantasy
Listening for the new told lies
With supreme visions of lonely tunes

Somewhere
Inside something there is a rush of
Greatness
Who knows what stands in front of
Our lives
I fashion my future on films in space
Silence
Tells me secretly
Everything
Everything

Let the sunshine
Let the sunshine in…

Thank you and goodnight. May you dream dreams of bright futures…

(I rendered the Eagle in Prisma pencil on school-grade construction paper)