Wednesday, June 20, 2007

I'm Perplexed



I finished this little painting today. It's acrylic on a 5x5 inch wooden plaque. I'm perplexed at just what to call her. She looks very perplexed to me. So I guess she's going to be called "Perplexity".

She started out as a sketch from a couple of weeks ago. I often like to sketch and doodle in my journal while watching t.v. I was watching a silent movie and here's a spread that I doodled in my book. I don't really know much about the plot of this movie... You can miss quite a bit of a silent movie if you draw during it, but it sure had some cute girls in it! You can see this Perplexed young lady as she was originally drawn, in the bottom right corner.



Before I painted her I was thinking about the colors of the 20's. We talked about "just what were the colors of the 20's?" Wesley thought they were grey, black and white. Well of course, that's what I think too, just like all old decades, really. Then I tried to imagine more, and I thought of The Great Gatsby, and the colors to me in that story are very pastel. So here you have a little bit of pastel.

She also reminds me of the little gift books published by Hallmark in the late 60s, early 70s. I have one of those little books that I've had since I was 2. Since then I've collected quite a variety of the quaint books. For some reason, the hat, or facial expression reminds me of those books.

I quite enjoy this quirky Perplexity, and I'm sure I'll make prints of her in the future. For now we have the little piece in my shop on etsy.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

She is a little cutie :) Thanks for giving us a peak into your journal!

Gerushia's New World said...

Oh Saffron, I love her!! You're one of the few artists I know of that can make a character surreal and elegant at the same time!!

I know what you mean about those little gift books from the 60's and 70's. I have a few also. Yes, she does remind me of those books, but with more depth and less cute. And...that is a good thing!!

Kim
Garden Painter Art
gnarly-dolls

Unknown said...

Love your work! Very roaring 20's and Great Gatsby! Love that movie too!

Gerushia's New World said...

Hi Saffron:

I just read your comment on my blog about Fayetteville. Well..... Fayetteville is where we lived!! My little stone cottage was on Mt. Sequoyah, which is right in town but feels like miles away. I'll bet you any amount of money that your dad's friends know where Mt. Sequoyah is, and if you drive up Assembly, you'll spot my little cottage. Unfortunately, since we've lived there, the roof and awning have been changed to green.

Sometimes I almost get spooked by how small this big ol' world really is!!

Kim
Garden Painter Art

Over The Top Aprons said...

Your drawing is absolutely charming!

It definitely has a 1920's quality very, very nice!

Unknown said...

when we moved into our house last year, the pond with the lilies and fish were already there, and the waterlilies came up on their own...we did'nt take them out for the winter....guess they hiberate very well! they also close up at night and bloom again with the sun.