A Lovely Model

We had a beautiful young model today for our drawing group, with a natural sense of grace and very big dreadlocks. These are 20 minute studies:

I'm also indulging in my secret passion and ambition for abstraction; here is the latest attack on an old canvas I keep reworking. A friend pointed out that it looks a lot like Synchronism, a style that was popular in the twenties. He was helped out in this observation by a book on American Synchronism that happened to be on my worktable where I've been studying it.....

These last four are studies in collage, acrylic and pastel on paper. I get very seduced by the prettiness and the sherbert colors, and there is a huge challenge to making them go beyond the look of a wallpaper or fabric design! If you have suggestions email me at arthurjohnsen@hotmail.com please.

Goings-on in the A J Studio

After a half-year of health issues it's a huge pleasure to sink into a creative space again in the studio. I rearranged my furniture a bit, cleared some wall space, and embarked on a set of light and pretty abstracts just for fun and practice. Meanwhile of course we have the Saturday and Tuesday life drawing group which has become my absolute favorite thing, rivaled only by my early morning yoga and dip in the ocean at Kehena Beach.

My collectors Brook and Greg showed up at the studio to pick up my "Blue Surfer" painting. It's a scene of the Red Road, rendered in a very stylized palette of highlights pulled out of an overall royal blue field. I don't know the surfer dude but he happened to walk by one day when I was doing another version of the view, so I snapped his picture.