Blog Posts - Laura Jeanne Grimes, artist

Wed, Oct 26, 2016

10/26/2016

I have continued working on my series of women wearing the hijab. All but one have used references from the Sktchy app, where people from all over the world post selfies for artists to use as inspiration. I've had to do quite a bit of scrolling on that app to find the hijab! Here are a few of the most recent pieces.

Sumaya

Devia

Lina

And, one from life. A woman I met at the coffee shop. She agreed to pose for me after I showed her some of my work.

Sara

48 Women Wearing the Hijab

9/16/2016

I love to work from the live model. The connection made between artist and model is part of the process of creating a portrait. We are, as it were, collaborating on the artwork. A photograph does not establish that kind of connection. However, sometimes, the artist must rely on photographs. And, we would be naive to assume that Michelangelo, da Vinci, et al would not have used photographs. They would no doubt be doing digital art today as well.

Lately, I have been using the Sktchy app to find photo references when I lack the appropriate model. Available on the App Store. The developer's description of the app is short and sweet: "Sktchy connects people through art. Share photos to inspire artists to draw you." The premise is quite simple. People post photos of themselves, making them available for artists to use as a reference. Then, the artist, if she wishes, posts the resulting work. I decided to use the app to find references for people that I would have a hard time finding to pose.

In this piece, I was given the challenge to fill 48 squares with anything, anything at all. Here is the result, my mild-mannered statement against xenophobia. I had to do quite a bit of scrolling to find that many women, wearing the hijab!

Centuries ago, after hearing the words, "Love your neighbor as yourself," a man, asked, "Who is my neighbor?" Presumably, he wished to narrow down the field. We can try our best to whittle that field down, until perhaps no one is left. Or, we can open our arms wide, seeing all people as Neighbor, instead of Other. Is the world made of Them and Us? Or, is the world simply made of Us?

48 Women Wearing the Hijab

Later, I decided to further develop a few of the faces as stand-alone works. I am including the photos (all screen shots from the Sktchy app) alongside the resulting sketch.

Besides posting the result on the Sktchy app, I also posted the piece on the Sketch Club website. I created the piece using the Sketch Club app on my iPad Pro. To view the sketch stats, and to read comments about the piece, click this link:

app.sketchclub.com/sketch/10693905.

Most of the comments were positive; however, one artist did post that I was "pandering" and that "white guilt got this elevated." In our polarized political climate, the simple depiction of women wearing the hijab offended at least that one person.

#hijab #sketch club #sktchy #digital art #iPad art

Exotic Plant

8/23/2016

I know a very Americanized Muslim woman, who does not wear the hijab. She has the slightest of accents; her daughter born here. Living in Texas, she has become cautious about letting people know she is Muslim. The mosque in one of the adjoining suburbs was vandalized last year, the torn pages of a Koran, covered in feces, thrown in front of the building. Altho many in the community came together in support of their Muslim neighbors, the incident heightened fears in the Muslim population. Once, a stranger driving by yelled at her, "Go back where you came from!!!!"

We, as human beings, seem to be hardwired to separate people into "Us" and "Them," to recognize those who are members of our own tribe as opposed to those who are "Other." This woman has become, to some at least, the possibly dangerous "Other." A conversation with her inspired this sketch.

In the sketch, titled "Exotic Plant," a woman, wearing a hijab, hides screened behind a large leaf. The word "exotic" from Dictionary.com: "of foreign origin or character; not native, introduced from abroad, but not fully naturalized or acclimatized." The word "plant" refers most commonly to flora, but can also be used as a word of suspicion. Again, from Dictionary.com: "A person placed secretly in a group or organization as by a foreign government, to obtain internal or secret information, stir up discontent, etc." In the western world today, the broader culture has come to see every Muslim as an object of suspicion.

Long ago, a man asked Jesus the question, "Who is my neighbor?" This woman is not my enemy, she is my neighbor. And, even if she were my enemy, Jesus said on another occasion, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you." In the King James version: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." Perhaps these are the hardest words He ever said.

Aging Venus

6/1/2016

I decided to do a take-off on Botticelli's famous "Birth of Venus" -- making her older, but still lovely. I also very loosely based some of her features on my own. Of course, as they say, every portrait is, to one degree or another, a self-portrait. Not a "finished" piece, but more in keeping with the freshness and spontaneity of a sketch.

A few more coffee shop sketches

11/21/2015

I love surreptitiously sketching other customers at the local coffee shop. Perhaps it would be polite to ask them first, but people just become so self-conscious when they know they are being sketched. So, please don't let them in on my secret...

Here are a few recent sketches. all from life, done on my iPad Air 2, using the Sketch Club app.

This lady was in an intense conversation. The sketch clocks in at 41 minutes from start to finish.

This young lady was leading the singing at a college worship service, help every Sunday evening at the coffee shop.

And this young man was preparing a presentation.

Hashtags would be, let's see: Sketch Club, digital art, iPad art, coffee shop sketches. Any more suggestions?

Coffee Shop Sketches

11/5/2015

I've really enjoyed hanging out at the local coffee shop to sketch and have my caffeine fix. Regulars know I may be sketching them, and actually enjoy the results. I try to be more covert when drawing strangers, who may be a little weirded out and become self-conscious. Here I offer a small selection of those sketches, all difital, created on my iPad, using the Sketch Club app.

Couple

Live Music

Conversation

Studying

Swallowing the Mic

Standing

At the Keyboard

Studying

Van Gogh with Laptop and Ear Buds

Speaking

#Sketch Club #iPad art #digital art #sketches #coffee shop

At the Pool and the Swimming Hole

8/25/2015

I've spent quite a lot of time at the pool and at swimming holes this summer. Here are a few photos from these excursions.

At the pool

Duck at the Swimming Hole

Underwater Graffiti

A quiet moment

Blue and Purple

Sunflowers

7/30/2015

An undeveloped lot between my favorite coffee shop and a nearby day care has been full of sunflowers lately. So, I've taken the liberty of picking a few and sketching them on my iPad. This first sketch is actually a store-bought Rudbeckia, which is in the sunflower family. All the rest were picked from the lot, which has a For Sale sign on it. This time next year, there will probably be some small business there instead. All these were drawn on my iPad Air 2, using the Sketch Club app.

Rudbeckia

From behind

Wilted

Neighbors

Yellow and Blue

Short stem

Red Center

#sunflower #ipadart

Fri, Jun 26, 2015

7/30/2015

Above, see a normal Black Eyed Susan

One secret to being an artist: notice what's in front of you. Seriously, take a look at what's beyond the tip of your nose. Glancing is not the same thing as looking. The amazing thing: once you have noticed something for the first time, you find it again somewhere else. An example:

Blackeyed Susan exhibiting fasciation

I had never seen this phenomenon before. Then, Spring in Central Texas, I come across it for the first time. I had to do a little research to even find the term!

From Wikipedia: "Fasciation (or cresting) is a relatively rare condition of abnormal growth in vascular plants.... producing flattened, ribbon-like, crested, or elaborately contorted tissue... Any occurrence of fasciation has several possible causes, including hormonal, genetic, bacterial, fungal, viral and environmental causes."

At first, I thought a black caterpillar was on top of the flower. Nope. Fasciation! So, never having seen this rare condition before, I run into again, several miles away, only a few weeks later.

You see, I had actually noticed the flower. Noticing: to take note. To actually see what's beyond the tip of your nose.

Below, see a normal example of a tiny flower called Daisy Fleabane. Followed by an example with fasciation.

Daisy fleabane with fasciation

On your next visit to an art museum, observe how long people actually "look" at a work of art. Count "one thousand one..." Calculate the average amount of time given. Then consciously just triple it as you approach the piece. What do you see? The details that jump out may surprise you. Think about it.

Fri, Jun 5, 2015

6/5/2015

I've been enjoying wildflower season in Central Texas by hunting around for the tiniest wildflowers. Using my iPhone 4S, with the Schneider Optics Macro Lens attachment and the Camera+ app has been loads of fun, aside from having to dodge the fire ant piles and keeping an eye out for snakes. Hey, it's Texas.

Here are a few recent pics, and, alas, I don't know all the names. And, I'll close it off with a picture of, instead of a flower, a tiny ladybug.

Bluebonnet, the state flower of Texas

A very small member of the lily family