Day 1 and 2 Elvis and Lou

I am currently working on my rock n roll series. Here is my newest painting Elvis and Lou. There are the pics I based them off of and the results. In talking about each of these I would really like to attempt expressing my motivation in each one and influence in choosing colors etc. ( if time allows)

A few of the things that influenced these guys:

I love rock n roll which sounds really cheesy to say but I just do. There have been many times in my life where I have needed music more than anything to get through it to cheer me up or make me feel like someone else feels the same as me. Art has many purposes, but I feel like the main thing I value is art making you feel an emotion without experience. It either reminds you of a feeling you treasure or helps you to strive for a feeling you have yet to experience ( hence the draw of romance films yes). I also believe art should put a spotlight on interesting things.

I also have sort of a healthy obsession with fame. I just think about how people get famous and why they are famous etc. all of the time. I also have this weird attachment to pictures. I guess it isn't weird it's just a weird feeling. Like a spidey sense. When I see a good picture my head tingles and I just love it - the feeling and the picture. Lately I have been using that spidey sense to pick pictures to paint. Like they convey this emotion to me that I can't even explain except it just lights up this part of my brain and I want to catch it like a lightning bug in a jar but in my paintings. This picture of elvis is one of my favorites because it is young elvis and it is not like classic cheesecake photo of him. It's like a sneaky peak into his real self.

I think he is really really fascinating. Icons amaze me. Like this normal person is suddenly thrown into the spotlight and so many people love them and adore them and they are just normal people but I feel it too. I feel the need to LOVE them too. I can look at pictures of Marilyn Monroe for hours. ( I will be painting her later). Specifically I really identify with Elvis. Like if someone asked me if I was an elvis or a beatles person despite the fact that I completely love the beatles and immersed myself more heavily in their music I feel like personality wise I am more of an Elvis. Flashy and tacky with a little bit of southern charm.

As far as this Lou Reed pic is concerned Lou Reed is just the shit. That's just all there is to it. The Velvet Underground is awesome. The whole time period in rock n roll history is fascinating. I read this book called " Please Kill Me" http://www.amazon.com/Please-Kill-Me-Uncensored-History/dp/0349108803/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1248581287&sr=8-3

that blew my mind. It's all about how punk rock really started in new york with CBGB and Blondie and the Ramones. Ugh so AWESOME. If only I had a time machine. I love this picture becasue he looks a little bit like a zombie, because it is him, and also his leather jacket like he is really trying to look fifties which kind of connects these two pics.

Originally I wanted to focus on this time period in this series because I also have spidey sense pics of Joan Jett and Blondie but the Joan jett pic did not transfer to tracing as much. So I decided to put these two together with similar colors. Maybe I will do a men of rock thing and then women of rock. I realize now I should have put ELvis and Marilyn together in an Icon series but c'est la vie. I am sure I have other good elvis pics for that. I will talk about my method later I suppose and the ups and downs of painting famous people but I have babbled quite a bit thus far so i shall end here dear readers ( or reader if Diana is the only person who is reading this)

Anyway if you want to buy Lou he is listed here http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28295933&ref=sr_list_1&&ga_search_query=lou+reed&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=date_desc&includes[]=tags&includes[]=title

I have not listed elvis yet( I know not very proffessional but I am finding a blog versus painting groove so next time i will try to list before I blog) but you can always message me here http://www.shastinalynn.etsy.com/ or check back monday ( I try to list during lunchtime on week days some part of me feels like people surf the web more then- I just sort of made this up Maybe I will use my sociology skills to test out the reality of this) Ta ta for now- next up should be Another Jennylynn painting.....