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George

George is a different kind of unexpected guest. He isn't famous or infamous. He just showed up in my artwok when I wasn't expecting him and we've never really met. Maybe I should sell it on Etsy since I already put a bird on it.

George walks on the sidewalk like he owns it.

A woman walking down the street with her dogs and child says "Look ,there's George!" The child is mostly ignoring her, paying attention to the fluffier of the two dogs. No one else is on the street. I notice an old crow hopping down the sidewalk ahead of all of us. I am guessing he is old because of greyed and ruffled feathers under his chin.

 

"You named a crow?" I ask.

The woman tells me the story. The crow and her Jack Russell terrier have an affair. The crow is a tease, always trying to get the dog's attention and flying just out of reach. The dog will jump in the air and go crazy if he notices. They saw a documentary on crows and the smartest one was named George, so the name is fitting. "Look, he's walking on purpose when he knows he can fly."

 

Nicholas Cage?

Nicholas Cage is another another unexpected guest, incidently with a Bacon Score of 2. Not sure why he's here since I haven't seen him in anything recently. He showed up in the middle of a set of warm-up drawings done with modified depleted printer cartridges. J calls them the most expensive liquid on the planet.

 

Dr. Who and Isadora Duncan

Normally I reserve the "Unexpected Guests" category for random likenesses that show up when I'm sketching. I've never been particularly fond of Dr. Who and when he shows up in another knitter's blog or one of my google searches about knitting I normally <yawn> skip right over it.

While scrolling through Smariek's blog links of patterns I  caught the phrase "And I'd like to avoid pulling an Isadora Duncan..." in her Dr. Who Scarf post. I clicked the link. Oh right, I know how this story ends: long scarf + open-wheel sportscar = death (broken neck)! The reason I know the story is because my father would mention it annecdotally every time I was working on or wearing a scarf. Way to be supportive, Dad.

There is, as with any story, more to be told.

First, about scarf length. It is difficult to determine how long the fatal scarf actually was. Accounts refer to her scarves as "long and flowing," "long enough to trail behind her" and "long enough to wrap around her body and out the side of the car." I don't find a good reference but there are photos of her dancing with a scarf extended at least a foot past the end of each arm.  Isadora herself was 5'6." If she had an average ape index her arm span would've been pretty close to her height Let's say 5'5". My own measurements are 5'5" with a 5'4" wing span so the estimate for seems plausable. Being generous with the excess length at the end of each arm brings the scarf length estimate to 9.5 feet.

• Dr. Who (which one and which scarf): 15 feet
• Isadora Duncan's silk scarf (estimated): 9.5 feet
• Modern long scarf length: 7 feet

Next, how it was possible for tragic scarf had to cover to get tangled in the wheel. If we presume the scarf is wrapped once around the neck and folded in half the free end of the scarf is (FullLength - NeckCircumfrence)/2.

Whether the car was a Bugatti (top) or an Amilcar (bottom) isn't really important. Both made racing cars with a low open cockpit rather close to the rear axel. Not good news for anyone wearing a scarf.

• Free end of Dr Who's scarf: 6.8 feet
• Free end of Isadora's scarf: 4 feet
• Free end of Modern scarf: 2.8 feet
• Period automobile wheel-to-seat-back distance:  1.5-2 feet

The circumstances of Isadora Duncan's death overshadow her accomplishments as a dancer. The the cautionary tale of Isadora's scarves sticks with us from 1927 not her role as an inventor of modern dance.

Happening upon the Dr Who scarf post caused me to ask "Who was Isadora Duncan?" and getting that answered invites additional questions.  Is the retelling of her death as a cautionary tale really about the strange accident or does it have more to do with her extravagant lifestyle? Duncan was publicly bi-sexual and comunist. Were people able to be more out about either gender or politics between World War I & II than they are now? Why do we associate her with scarves and not Grace Kelly, Greta Garbo or Jackie Kennedy?

Isabella Rossellini

This week the unexpected guest is Isabella Rossellini. From Big Night (roughly): "I think I would like to go out west. I think I would like, how you say 'Cow Boy?'  Cowboy. I need one of those."

Beautiful quote on IMDb about wrinkles.

Madonna?

The unexpected guest from last week appears to be Madonna with that choppy, black, short haircut from the Rain video. And two different colored eyes like David Bowie! The original image was done a while ago with rehydrated printer ink  on cardstock  This revision incorporated aquarelle, watercolour and acrylic.

Now why would Madonna show up here?

 

• Notes:
• • printer ink is a rare substance since it costs roughly $25-30 per ounce (per cockeyedscience.)
• • Madonna with dark hair is quite rare (per google.)

'52 Vincent

1952 Vincent Black Lightening by Richard Thompson always gives me chills. Even if I'm just reading the lyric and not listening to the song.  I have been thinking about doing a piece or two on the song for a little while. I only just recently discovered that I happened to snap a few pictures of this fine motorbike at the 2008 Monterey Historics.  In a collection of 137 automobile photographs there are two, a front and a profile,  of this motorcycle icon.

It has speed records at Bonneville. Many of its technological innovations  are still in use today  in modern motorcycles. It has mystique to to its accolades and the short lifespan of the mark.  Any Vincent is rare. According to an article in Hemmings's Motor News  only 11,036 Vincents were produced.  Estimations of specific quantities vary from one report to the next. There were around 2500 Black Shadows. The Black Lightning  is the racing version and only 31-100 were made or upgraded between 1948 and 1952. The company stopped production in 1952 and then went out of business in 1955.

The idea has been kicking around in my head aimlessly. That's a long song, a ballad. It has love, drama and tragedy. Where do I even start?

In this case I wasn't even thinking about this work. I wasn't even listening to the song. It hadn't even played on the radio recently.

I was sketching over an image I had previously made as a test of an ink I was thinking about working with. Original image was crap.  My cover was also crap. That judgment and personal creativity and suddenly here was Richard Thompson. Where did he come from?  Doesn't matter. Now I know what to do next.

 

Since this is a preliminary sketch and not the final it's  perfectly understandable that everything would run together, fall on top of itself and not necessarily make sense. There are a number of elements that I can use.  The number 52, the way the front wheel imparts an expression of shock for Red Molly, the goatee on James.

Now I need to think about the Angels and Ariels in leather and chrome.

 

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Richard Thompson: Electric (Review)