Stella

Occasionally I like to do a vintage-inspired piece. This was fast and fun and my favorite part is how I left some of the background showing throughout her face, including in part of the lips and eyebrows.

The Next Julia Roberts

Last month a longtime dream came true--I became the next Julia Roberts. Okay, not quite. But I did get to be an extra in one of my favorite band's, Imagine Dragons, music videos and that's almost as cool. We were asked to put together our best 1960s look. I found these vintage shoes and dress at my local thrift store. I studied the popular hair and makeup of the time and did my best to mimic it. 

Here I am posing with two other extras. We had A LOT of waiting to do. I was in two scenes, so I had a two hour wait in the morning and another four and a half hour wait in the evening. They kept us entertained with pizza and hours and hours of Studio C. 

The band felt bad we had to wait so long, so they came out and did a mini Q&A with us. It was fun seeing them in their astronaut costumes. Dan Reynolds told us the song Radioactive was written during a time he suffered from some depression and anxiety. Having experienced those myself, I feel like Dan and I are bosom buddies now. 

We got to see some of the sets. This one was my favorite. Don't you just love it?

And this set ended up being Dan Reynold's family room. When it was finally time to film, I got to play a crazed female fan chasing after the band (think Beatles-mania). In the evening we shot several scenes of the band performing On Top of the World and we were the adoring crowd. Unfortunately I didn't make it into those shots. Still, it was way worth it, getting to see the band in astronaut costumes, lip syncing to a great song on the moon of all places. I was merely a few feet away from Dan fake performing. It was all so very surreal. Almost as surreal as when I got to meet Dan a few weeks prior at the Radioactive Fest (scroll down to read that post).

When the video was released, I was bummed because you can barely see me in the one shot I made it into. My dreams of being the next IT girl in Hollywood will have to be put on hold. I guess for now I'll stick to painting and writing. 

Here is a link to the video for your viewing pleasure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5tWYmIOWGk

Iris

I'm really pleased with the final outcome. I love this one so much, I'm tempted to keep it for myself. Once again my goal was to stick to a limited color palette. I love how the warm color in her lips and cheeks so sharply contrast the cool colors of the rest of the painting--it makes the reds really pop. You may have noticed I love to exaggerate the color on the cheeks of most of my female figures. It's an idea inspired by Gustav Klimt and Charles Dwyer, two of my favorite painters. I'm not sure why I love it so much. I think for me the red cheeks represent vulnerability and some sort of romantic stimulation, plus I feel it enhances a woman's beauty and the gross exaggeration almost gives my figures an ethereal look.

Self-Portrait 3

Because sometimes you just need a llama in the background. 

Zoe