sketchy lady

Portrait #43: Zac

2009-05-02T21:41:00.000-07:00

This drawing session with Zac took place on one of the nicest days of Spring so far, right after our sculpture class. Since Zac had just sat through my presentation of my Sketchy Lady project (for an ongoing "twice weekly" assignment) he had all kinds of questions while I was drawing him. For example, "Do you think about what you write in the posts while you are drawing people?" So I made a mental note to write about that.

Recently, Zac was kind enough to play my interviewer in a video piece I did for our class, Hey Girl Hey, episode 13: Two Folds in the Schmutzy Fabric of Space and Time. The project really wouldn't have been half as successful without Zac's interpretation of his part. He claimed to me that we traded his acting for my lending him the video camera (he made a hilarious video about Davy Crockett) but told him that his performance was so valuable that I still owe him. This is when he asked me if I was still doing my Sketchy Lady project and if he could be drawn after class. Perhaps we are even now?

It is confusing to me whether me or my sitter is doing the bigger favor for the other. on the one hand, they get to be immortalized in graphite and on the internet, but also they have to sit still for a pretty long time. (This is one part that Zac didn't like very much... he took lots of stretching breaks.)

I'm glad Zac and I have finally gotten to collaborate on some art related stuff. A couple assignments ago, we chose really similar topics (Jews & radicalism) to make our pieces on and in one of our class discussions I asked him if we could collab, but he said he needed to work it out on his own. Zac ended up coming up with this really amazing performance piece where he re-Bar Mitzvahed himself in the SLC spiritual space. This new Bar Mitzvah was performed through a radical lens, as Zac delivered a d'var torah about the changes in his Jewish identity since his first Bar Mitzvah. He had the class read passages from a Judith Butler essay on the backlash against anti-Zionist Jews, as if we were a congregation. It was a really successful project that I'm glad Zac maintained the space to work on alone.

Portrait #41: Khari

2009-04-25T23:59:00.000-07:00

This gesture is one that Khari tends to perform during dance parties:

I think it is a tendency of percussionists.

Speaking of which, I think Khari is going to be the drummer for Lesbian Bed Death, also featuring myself and Max. Khari is a sick drummer so it is going to be TIGHT. I am already compiling really riotgrrlly love songs in my head so that I can whine them really screamily at a sea of liberal arts college students. Mostly what I am trying to say is that Khari is going to help me become a rock star.

Khari and I had a nice chat while I drew him the day of the Sketchy Lady Show. It ended up taking a pretty long time because we'd hit on a really important point and I'd dramatically put my graphite down and say things like "BUT NO SERIOUSLY." And then I'd look down and be like, "oh shit, you are missing an arm!" And then Khari would say something like "Dude that is not good. We gotta take care of that."

Then, last weekend, Khari and some other friends came over before our excursion to a scary mansion in Bronxville. Then they had an impromptu American Apparel dealing session with Megan in our living room. Khari bought another of the above sweatshirt and when I needed one for our haunting night mission, he not only let me borrow it on this cold night but he is letting me keep it for the rest of the semester! (In light of Charlotte's "Trade With Me Trades" project, it was great to get something in return for drawing this portrait.) Most of our group was wearing this sweatshirt or a similar one and we accidentally might have freaked out this woman who was walking her dog... I hope she didn't think we were going to mug her. Either way, the mansion had an amazing chandelier that took up the whole ceiling in a large dining room. SWEET.

This post was brought to you by RES LIFE.

Portrait #42: Ryanbakergreen

2009-04-14T19:51:00.001-07:00

Ryan originally met because he lived with my friend Martin. Given that he is a pretty quiet guy (at least to most people) we didn't really talk a lot until this year since we are in sculpture class together, and then we both lost our friend Spencer so I'd try to chat with him about how he was doing.

I guess since Ryan is not my chattiest friend (I am probably the chattiest friend of others) I hadn't ever spent such a long sitting looking at his face until I drew him. Usually when we chill in the studio everyone is looking at something different and working on things. It was really interesting because there were a lot of aspects of his face that I hadn't noticed. Like I knew what expression he would end up having since he was spacing out at his computer reading up on the history of acid, but I didn't know what steps I would take with drawing forms in order to get to that expression.

One example of Ryan's quiet demeanor there is a facebook group from 3 years ago called "Ryan Green Needs to Shut Up" which all of his friends joined. It is one of the only groups that Spencer was in, so whenever I look at his profile if I'm feeling nostalgic its like, OH YEAH heehee.

Anyway Here is a tree that Ryan made first semester as part of his Death Mountain project:

Here are some octopi he made from dipping bent chicken wire and dipping it into wax:

Sw33t d34l ryan.

Portrait #40: Anna

2009-04-13T21:35:00.000-07:00

Anna's hair was quite nice to draw since I like to space out at it in our Sixties history class. It's so shiny and straight that her bangs sit sort of like Cleopatra when she's not wearing a ponytail.

For example,

, and,

I imagine that Anna's critique of these pictures might be about the racialization of "Cleopatra" as white and therefore, indicative of white supremacy's hegemony in Hollywood and consumer culture. (However, perhaps I am conflating her analysis with another student in our class named Daisy (drawing pending) who is researching the history of beauty products in the black community.) This is my guess since a lot of what we talk about in class is the Black Liberation Movement and Anna always has thoughtful things to say about the different stages of the BLM (e.g. development of self defense politics in Student Nonviolent Coordinating Commitee). Sometimes in class Anna and I talk about having both worked with an organization that trains youth to do organizing around peace and nonviolence, and then questioned that framework thereafter.

Also sometimes we complain about what some like to call "manarchism". Also sometimes we discuss what kinds of eyeliner we like to use in order to get that perfect point on the end.

During our sketching sesh, I had the pleasure of chilling out with Anna and about 6 other folks and did lots of chitchatting. This is a good example of how Sketchy Lady can be a really nice way to do homework as a distraction from my other homework. This was one of the larger groups that I have Sketchy Ladied in, but out of the big groups, I felt the least amount of pressure in it. I think I somehow made Anna look way more Jewish than she is, but I think I captured her relaxed posture accurately. Some portraits that I've done don't accurately capture all the deetz of a person's image but sometimes the most important thing is the way that large forms relate to each other. Thanks for teaching me this important lesson, Anna.

Portrait #39: Kate Bed-uh-currr-ay

2009-04-12T09:39:00.001-07:00

I had to catch Kate while she was studying since she's been hiding in her room a lot after she got back from her 3-week Cuba trip. Kate's portrait is also part of my campaign to make time for portraits in times of study stress... therefore the small scale. I think it turned out pretty cool with the dramatic lighting... not all the portraits get that. It was a little difficult to get her to stay still enough but I think it ended up looking like her. She even said that it looked more like her than her twin! (Twinness throws a whole other dimension to the assessment of likeness.) I am glad she liked it--Kate took a little convincing in order to let me draw her since I had to tell her I'd make her look pretty. She is super duper pretty so that was easy to accomplish.

Here's how her drawing looked in the show (and a sneak peak of three others):

Tight.

Portrait #38: Kait

2009-04-08T23:09:00.001-07:00

Kait's drawing is certainly an outlier in this project in terms of both process and likeness. As the semester at SLC is getting closer to the end and stress levels run higher, I've been trying to figure out how to work sketches into busy schedules. Since Kait is a dance third and an early bird, I thought I'd take advantage of her 10:00am timeslot in her day so that I'd be forced to do work afterwards. Apparently I'm not so good in the morning... she got to my place when I was still in my pjs and I had a hard time transitioning from sleeptime into lifedrawingtime. I made coffee, we schmoozed a bunch, but I really just couldn't seem to wake up enough to capture her facial features like I have been able to with others recently. This portrait does not look as much like Kait as it does her housemate, Colman.

It's killing me trying to think of what specifically went wrong in this drawing. I think I needed to make her forehead bigger and wider on the sides. Hmm.

Even though it didn't produce my most successful drawing, that morning was very well spent; interesting to hang out with Kait in a new context--we had been in First Year Studies together, in a class called Emergence of Christianity. We both ended up switching Dons (FYS teacher=Don=advisor) as a result of finding a different academic direction. My first year I would have NEVER predicted Kait would switch away from Cameron too... she was always one of the most prepared and enthused students in the class. Her new direction in the dance department has been really great to see... she did this dance piece in the C.A.T.S. (SLC art collective) event called Friendge Fest where the audience could call out letter and color combinations to make the dancers do different movements based on what color their costume was. Fascinating.

SHOW SHOW SHOW SHOW

2009-04-08T18:12:00.000-07:00

Sketchy Lady Show, THIS FRIDAY APRIL 10TH in A*Space!

You should come! I think we're gonna set up drawing stations. Also if you come early enough, you can meet my parents (and draw a family portrait!)

Portrait #29: Bug

2009-04-08T14:03:00.001-07:00

This drawing was completely unplanned. I heard about a lecture about Art and Politics that was going on at the library, and probably got distracted on my way there. Apparently a few minutes was way too late, because the room was teeming with eager students awaiting their favorite professor's lecture on the panel. Bug and I were two of the people who could not even squeeze through the door so we sat outside. I leaned against the wall separating the lecture room from the hallway, and he watched through the doorway directly at the panelists. This is why he looks so in awe in the photo: not only was I drawing his tall stature from below, but his mind was being developed rapidly as we learned about poststructuralpostmoderngobbeldygook.

I don't have a lot of stories about Bug since I don't actually know him that well. Except there is one story....

My first year, Megan and our friend and I had a boxed wine incident where the bag got punctured. Quickly we scrambled for the nearest bowls in our friend's room. But then we were stuck with all these bowls of cheapo wine... we looked into the hallway and there was Bug with his other friend. Megan offered them the bowl and they, being desperate first years, accepted. I don't know if Bug remembers this incident. But when I drew Megan a couple pages later during our trip to the New York Public Library, she wrote on my drawing of her "Hey Bug, would you like a bowl of wine?" I like that Megan's drawing spoke to Bug's. It was a very nice touch.

Portrait #28: Zara M.

2009-04-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

I wrote this post about a month ago but only recieved the picture from Zara today.

Every new portrait I do lately seems to be my favorite... I think this Zara sketch confirms for me that I am into the groove. It was a very good snow day activity to jam around with Zara, Gil, and Alanna in the sculpture studio to hits like "We Got the Beat" by the Go-Gos. While I drew her, Zara worked on a little comic she's making... mostly sewing the pages together and adding text into some of the pix. She kept poking herself with her needle by accident and concentrating very hard, but I managed to give her a little smirk which she is pleased about. We decided that the hat was a very good touch and I think it is very characteristic of this zany girl.

Perhaps I am more comfortable drawing people that are also artists... they are less nervous being drawn and understand the process more? But also like, who the hell do I draw/know who is 0% creative? (False dichotomy!? Define YR Terrrmz!) Anyway, Zara is herself, as I mentioned before, a comix artist (often collaborating with Gil, on works like Taffy Hips, a collaborative comic which is having an A*Space release party this Friday!!). [EDIT: that happened a month ago; Taffy Hips is currently accepting submissions for issue #3... featuring yrs truly!] She also has super cool performances where she uses an overhead projector, cutouts, and audience cue cards//soundzz to tell a story. Hannah D. said the performance at Friendge Fest gave her chills! GO ZARA

ADDITIONS TO THIS POST:
-Zara did an even bigger and better performance at Wishbone Window, which was the senior show for students in my sculpture class (Zara, Ryan, Charlotte, and Hannah D). It was tight. Here is a pic from it:

The deal was that viewers could go into the tent, pick out a transparency and read out its number. Then Zara would read the corresponding story that went along with it. It set this really reflective mood because she said that viewers should try not to look at each other: either close your eyes or just look at the drawing. I think it is interesting that Zara and I have both made work this year that bridges drawing and stories.

Portrait #37: Vera

2009-04-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

Vera's portrait might be one of my most accurate ones, which is suprising, considering how little it looked like her for 70% of the time I was drawing her. It was on one of the very first warm days, so the North Lawn was really happenin... so great to finally use that picnic blanket again right, V?

We decided that I made Vera look super Native American in this portrait. It definately has something to do with the combination of the jaw/braids/earrings. I don't remember ever doing a portrait where I inadvertently altered the sitter's ethnicity. I think I will try not to do it again... it might be problematic.

It was super nice for me and Vera to have special grrrltime together last week. Vera and I met through Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and for a while were the most nationally active women in our chapter. We spent a long time during our drawing sesh talking about the national SDS women's caucus and the different ways it responds to sexism in SDS, especially "sexual assault" and how it's defined. Neither of us are involved anymore but still get lots of the emails, so it was really good to have someone to speak/think critically about it with. I used to spend a ton of energy writing articles about how I think the women's caucus should be organized, before realizing that a lot of my SDS work was not really going very far and had nothing to do with my local campus community, which I found much more important to work on.

Right now the organizing Vera is doing is mostly around the creation of a Student Union at Sarah Lawrence, basically meaning a rebuilding of our student government from the ground up, to make it radically democratic, more efficient, effective, transparent, accountable, etc. It is going to be TIGHT and I'm so proud of Vera's work... It's great to see how her and others' work in SDS really led to this project. So even if our chapter died, it was a really great learning experience for students here and we really applied those lessons. (Shout outzz to Michelle Lewin for taking initiative as senate chair. and being insanely employable. go get em!)

Portrait #36: Devra

2009-03-30T17:54:00.002-07:00

I tried to get Devra to let down her hair and shake it up a little so that it looked superpunx in the drawing. I am glad I got the texture across because Devra's hair texture (greasiness etc.) is admittedly a very important feature as part of her anarcha allure. In retrospect, wish I had gotten to draw some of her tattoos... there are a lot of them and they cover a lot of her (one of her two octopi covers most of her leg/rear end). Glad I got to draw her glasses though. After I was done, we talked about how I made her look especially birdlike... something about those big glasses gives her a little beaklike quality. CUTE.

Devra and I are in a class together called "From the Plantation to the Prison: Criminal Justice Policies." She always has good things to say in class that both come from a sophisicated intellectual framework but also have a lot of heart. Sometimes that combination is really missing in discussion-based classes so its nice to have Devra around. Tomorrow, our prison class is going to Bedford Hills, a maximum-security prison in Westchester. I am mostly scared for driving the 15-seater van, and then having to shift into a different kind of stress, which is having to go through security. We are only supposed to take an ID and a key on this trip. Wish us luck!

Portrait #35: Colleen F.

2009-03-30T17:54:00.001-07:00

I liked drawing Colleen quite a bit because it went much more easily than many of my portraits. She was a good, still sitter but also engaging, she had really fun glasses to draw, and somehow I achieved her likeness with little to no effort. It was totally stress free, especially for a sitter I wasn't as well acquainted with at the time. Mostly I loved drawing her glasses and her fantastic chin. You might notice that I exaggerated this chin: it looks a little manly which was not my intention. Also I must note that this above picture of Colleen in the flesh is ADORABLE.

Some more information---Colleen...
-is from Olympia ("OLY WA")
-has a band with our friend Khari called the Larry Hoffmans (Larry Hoffman is the director of security at SLC)
-randomly knows my friend Guy fron Olympia. Guy was my first boyfriend in 6th grade for two weeks and we've been friends ever since

All of these things are true! Also true is that after this drawing was done we watched Cindy Sherman's 1997 film Office Killer in my room and it was SO GORY AND FANTASTIC. I loved it so much that I watched it another 2 times and then wrote a whole essay about it for sculpture class even though I only had to write two paragraphs. When we watched it was when I was still getting to know Colleen, but we still chat even though we don't have the time and luxury of SPRING BREAK anymore.

Colleen might be embarassed that I am mentioning this on here but I think it is important for followers of this blog to know about. Colleen got me into okcupid.com, a dating website that has lots of quizzes and fun things to fill out and waste time doing. How else would I have instant messaged with the facilitator of Dyke Knitting Circle at Bluestockings without even having to go an get new yarn and start a new project? Brilliant. (It was not that interesting of a conversation but I am impressed with ok cupid nonetheless.) Thank you Colleen for making my world of procrastination even richer. (SORRY I MADE YOU BLUSH BUT THE PEOPLE HAD TO KNOW.)

Portrait #34: Megan's Megan

2009-03-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

This is the third time I've drawn Megan. She was my original guinea pig for this project but my drawing skills have improved a lot since then. Meaning, it was a really bad drawing so I didn't blog it. Also maybe it seemed too obvious when I'd try to find new people to draw. I feel much better about this one since it has much more of a style and incorporates all of Megan's tattoos which are a really big part of her physical presentation. I was there with her when she got the hearts on her chest, and had actually helped her draw the concept for it, so it was interesting actually drawing the tattoo from her actual body. I'm glad the drawing ended up with a sassy expression since that is part of Megan's true essence. Another part is this essence:

However, the Megan that I got to see while I was drawing her had much to do with her calm and reflected essence. I think she probably told me a bunch of stories about love and family history and identity since those are often things we talk about when we're not taking about our Sixties class homework or revolutionary nationalism or tuff grrrl alter egos. It turned out to be a really nice bonding moment since she sat really still and went deep in our discussion. I think it helped that beforehand, said she felt really comfortable and calm when I drew her in the past, so I wasn't worried about inconviniencing her during the process.

There was a lot to discuss during the drawing session since it's been a really transitional time for Megan in terms of life paths and phases since she is about to graduate. The title of this post comes from our inside joke about this 1960s/1970s feminist activist named Bev Grant and her music. She wrote this song (that goes along with a documentary she made) called "Janie's Janie". The premise is that as she gains independence from men, Janie is her own Janie, not Daddy's Janie or Charlie's Janie. So thus, Megan's Megan. Thanks to Bev for the inspiration!

Portrait #33: Max J. K.

2009-03-20T17:32:00.001-07:00

Max and I were "set up" as friends by Shahnaz, a professor we've both had. A respected academic and intense teacher, Shahnaz is also very skilled at setting up friendships between her students. A good example of strange-Sarah Lawrence-social science-subculture is that people who are fans of Shahnaz (often switching to her as their Don, or advisor) click really well together and talk about her often. Apparently Shahnaz recommended me to Max, so when we finally met through Ashley, he was like "OMG yr the one Shahnaz wanted me to talk about feminist politics with!" And then we exploded with things on our agenda to discuss. We often exclaim things to one another like "that is so post-medium" before erupting in giggles.

This intense Shahnaz-based connection offers a plethora of conversation topics on aesthetics, urbanization, gender/power/class/race, etc. This (along with my struggle with ADD) made it very hard for me and Max to concentrate on our task of drawing. Sometimes I forget how stupid it is to hold a conversation with my subjectwhile drawing them. I guess that problem doesn't really arise when doing still lives or landscapes.

Despite the fact that I chose not to create a background for Max's portrait, it seems to contain more visual information than the other portraits. I had a difficult time capturing his facial features since he and I had a hard time not being really chatty during the portrait session. However, I think the red in the glasses I added make it much more accurate to Max's persona. His choice to hold my Curious George stuffed animal is an interesting exaggeration of our age dynamic, as Max is two years younger than me and seems to feel this difference.

Not long after I drew this portrait, I got really deep into a Dead Kennedys phase and proposed to my friends that we should start a riot grrrl-style DK cover band. Max took to this idea and we proposed some prospective band names that emphazie riot grrrl sensibility, such as :

Lesbian Bed Death
Cervixxxens
The Vajanglers

Thank you Shahnaz for securing me with a valuable friendship and perhaps music career.

Portrait #32: L. Klotzy

2009-03-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

Klotzy and I very intentionally decided how she would pose and what the composition would be for the portrait. I wanted to maximize forms to draw, which meant more time and concentration (the latter of which I have little capacity for). Since Klotzy wanted to do what it took to help make interesting art happen, she let me create a more complex composition and sat in a weird position. She probably regretted this since it ended up taking an hour. Mostly I really wanted to draw her Nike Dunks. We maneuvered my bed so she could put her foot up. I might have made it look more awkward looking in the picture, but maybe it was awkward in real life too. At least I was nice and let her take breaks and chatted her up a lot.

The reason Klotzy was such a dedicated sitter is that she is also very dedicated to her own artmaking, having taken a year off to have art adventures in Marfa, TX. She also has a blog called CRAP BAG. Klotz and I have a long history of arguing about aesthetics and art but have come to an understanding that lets us discuss art and politics more productively.

In other news, Klotzy is one of the managers for A*space, the student art exhibition space. We're trying to work on getting me a show in A*space in the next coming weeks to show my Sketchy Lady portraits in real life, so stay tuned for more info on that!

Portrait #31: Jordnnland

2009-03-03T23:02:00.001-08:00

The influenza epidemic at SLC has come in 2 or 3 different stages, ensuring that for about 2-3 weeks, there has always been a couple sick people in any given social, political, or academic group of students. Jordan followed me in-to-fluenza in the second stage and was a trooper to sit for me while he was feelin real ill. (And also a trooper to wash his hair for the occasion as promised.) The drawing sesh was supposed to happen at 5:30 but since both of us fell asleep and accidentally took 4-5 hour naps, it had to be postponed until 11.

Jordan sat very quietly reading while I drew him. At one point his face contourted a little and I asked him if he needed to sneeze. He said no but asked if he could blow his nose. So I passed him the tissue box and told him the story about how Spencer was really intensely like "uhmmbeth? is it ok with you if I scratch my nose?" as if it were really disruptive to the process. That's one of the stories I told at the quaker-style Spencer memorial/meeting in November.

Jordan and Spencer went to high school together, in both situations being a freshman and a senior, respectively. The first time I talked to Jordan was at the memorial dance party for Spencer called "Wolf's Teeth". I was like "hey didn't you just add me on fbook?" and then we acquainted ourselves by dancing in a circle with our friends to some really hip band Spencer liked like The Gossip. We've been hanging out and listening to more hip bands lately, but we don't really talk about Spencer that often since I guess both of us only knew him for 2 short periods. However, we both often wear the colorful Spencer pins that were passed out at Wolf's Teeth (made to look like hipster band merch) so the idea of him is totally on the mind. Especially since Jordan is really tall and his pin is at my eye level.

Also you might notice the introduction of a baby quilt on my bed in this picture, unlike the other pictures... usually the only other noticeable decoration is my world map poster. Maybe this marks the beginning of the "early quilt period" in Sketchy Lady history, from post-flu epidemic era of Sarah Lawrence.

Portrait #30: Harrison

2009-03-02T23:54:00.003-08:00

This picture of Harrison shows just how very proud of his Sketch he is. (Also the fact that he made it his profile picture on facebook.) He has been trying to get me to draw him ever since he wrote about my art and Sketchy Lady in his collaborative blog in order to make me feel like I need to reciprocate. I did feel quite touched that he called me "one of the finest art students here at Sarah Lawrence". (I am especially touched because Harrison knows my work very well after we spent 2 semesters in printmaking together last year.) However, I think I would have drawn him anyway even if he didn't do that. This is a good example of how wacky Harrison is. Another example of how wacky Harrison is: so much chesthair in this drawing! I really need to get a detail shot of that.

Harrison looked a little nervous while I was drawing him (his eyes got kinda big like kittens do in cartoons), maybe because he had a lot of investment in it. Either that or the huge pack of dudes at the table behind me in the sculpture studio made us feel like a small pack of dudes.

We were all feeling a little lazy on the night of the snow day. So our portrait drawing sesh was interrupted by a really climactic pizza delivery. I had ordered a small pizza and mozz sticks, but a medium one was delivered, decked out with 4 garlic knots (one in each corner of the box). So Harry and I feasted on the mozz and the pizza for a little before returning to contemplation. I was greatful because I was worrying about getting too malnourished to do a good likeness of my friend Harry. He graciously paid me $2 for his slice. We really were full of trades and mutual benefit.

Overall, although I feel that the likeness is better up close in the lip-region than it is in that pic, I am happy that I captured his pretty-boy looks in this portrait. Thanks for being a fan, Harry.

By the way

2009-03-02T16:48:00.000-08:00

By the way, PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
I am skipping around my posts a lot because I don't have all the pictures yet. My camera's been broken for hella long and I only just ordered a new one. They are showing up chronologically so you might have to look for the post you wanna look at lower down if it's just posted. Does that make sense?

Sorry for the delay!

Portrait #27: Ashley Lorraine G.

2009-03-02T13:12:00.000-08:00

Doing this drawing of Ashley totally tripped me out because, lets be real here, she looked profoundly sad while she was sitting for me. (Perhaps it was the record player blasting Cat Power's "What Would the Community Think" (saddest album evrr). I asked her about that and she said she was looking at this really intense picture on the wall of this multi-color blob and that it made her blink/tear up a lot.

Well anyway, I really had fun drawing her tangley blonde hair. It is so different than mine that it was fun to learn how to draw. I also really wanted to draw her friends Jordan and Khari (seriously they are like a package deal, so inseperable) but Khari was too busy sewing with his head really close to his project, and Jordan keeps putting off his Sketchy Lady Sesh for until he gets a haircut or washes it, whichever comes first.

Ashley belongs on this blog because she is a natural Riot Grrrl. The other night when I had a dance party, all she wanted was for us to put on some Bikini Kill and have a scream-a-long. And despite my influenza-induced throatache, I submitted to Ashley's requests, and it was beautiful. Me, Ashley and my BFF Megan (portrait coming soon) had a scream a long to favorites like "Suck My Left One" and "Don't Need You" in my living room which scared the boys (Jordan and Khari) out. When they came back Jordan greeted us "hey riot grrrlz" and we were like "where the hell did you go?" so then we pushed Jordan out the door. (We started a grrrl riot.)

Then Megan and Ashley figured out that they DJed at the same radio station in Colorado at different times. (Megan interviewed Kathleen Hanna on it when she was 15!) We are glad that Ashley came over.

Portrait #26: Annie S.

2009-03-02T13:11:00.002-08:00

Annie and her friend Jessica and I had a really fun girltime after lunch at the dining hall last Friday. We had lots of talks about cameras, Jews and tattoos (I was wearing some temporary tattoos of a burning star and an anchor), but mostly about boys. Then we got the great idea to turn gossip time into Sketchy Lady time!! But oh dear did we keep girltime gossiptime going on, and it was so very supportive and thorough.

Annie was wearing a sweet shirt that her best friend from home made her-- each shirt has the opposite person stenciled on. Sweet. I decided to go ballzy and draw in the stencil. I thought it turned out pretty cool. John says that this is the shirt he thinks of when he thinks of an Annie shirt (they are housemates so John knows her wardrobe).

Also, Annie is a totally rad riot grrrl as long as we're on the subject from Ashley. Annie worked at the Rock n Roll camp for girls, which I am SO jealous of. I SO wish that I knew about that in middle school and high school when I played drums... I lacked any sort of female/riot grrrl inspiration and felt really disempowered by my super dude drum teachers (one was the son of the drummer from twisted sister). So yeah Annie is like one of those friends who the young grrrl inside of you looks up to as some sort of cool babysitter figure. (Maybe it's like that with all of my friends that I respect??) Also as you can see from the pictures she is toadelly beautz... even making that weird face!

Portrait #25: Erin Bunny Furrows

2009-03-02T13:11:00.001-08:00

Erin Bunny first posed like the babealicious reclining diva she is, but it turned out to be a really weird angle and it was distracting that we kept talking. When she first saw the first version of the drawing, she made some reference to this book called "Fat? So!" and the part about chins. It could have been a rich place for us to talk about the situation and about body politics, since Erin has gotten really into that lately since she's been working at this plus size vintage store called Re/Dress NYC. But I guess we didn't really talk about it. Maybe that was my fault? Erin, what do you think about this conversation?

I think the problem of the first drawing also stemmed from the fact that Erin is only on campus once a week now that she is a women's history grad student and so Monday's Sketchy Lady sesh intended to serve as a catchup sesh too. (We used to see each other a lot last year and this summer since we've lived near each other a lot, on campus and also in Brooklyn.) So then to give us all more concentration, Erin busted out her sweet tiny laptop (IT FITS INTO HER CLUTCH PURSE LITTLE). I was very pleased that I got to draw her spunky eyebrows since they were all furrowed (Burrows!) Her hairs are also very beautiful to draw. And you can't tell from the shitty cameraphone picture we had to resort to, but she was wearing this huge ornate rose ring which was so diva delicious, and oh GOD so was the pompadour. I am pleased with this drawing and can't wait to show you a better pic of it when my new camera comes in. Stay tuned!

Portrait #24: Alex Brozen "That Cool Guy From NYU"

2009-03-02T13:10:00.000-08:00

If Alex Skozzzen could only come to visit Sarah Lawrence for one night, it was very appropriate that he chose Saturday, February 21st.

One morning when I woke up earlier that week, I noticed an facebook message from Alex:

February 19 at 6:06am

what would you think about me visiting this weekend? or are you guys real busy? i can't believe i haven't seen this paradise they call sarah lawrence college yet! i just realized that i have a weekend free for the first (and last) time in a while. so let me know! my internet's been really shady lately, so texting/calling is probably a better idea. and beth, i would be honored if you sketched me, lady.
Alex has been hearing about this "paradise" ever since a year ago when he and Sarah met on their NYU abroad program in Paris. Then his dreams became deeper when we all hung out in Manhatty a lot over the summer and he heard all of my sex party stories. I understood this great need we all had for Alex to see what it's all about, so without looking at my calendar, in my foggy headed sleepy stupor, I replied "I feel great about you visiting this weekend and me sketching you." without asking Sarah. BUT I WAS RIGHT. It was an amazing time.

First we sketched and Alex was a perfect little bearded Polish goddess on my bed. We talked mostly about really funny fecal experiences, taking advantage of Sarah being out of the room.

Eventually after a lot of gossip, it was time for Friendge Fest (spelling not important), a night of collaborative art events put on by the SLC art collective, C.A.T.S. It was totally wacky, mostly because there was a PIE EATING CONTEST. Best art event idea ever. Also there was a lot of boxed wine which made everything a little funner. Other events included: a punk band performances complete with a mosh pit started by me and Megan, a slideshow that compared pictures of porn to pictures of sandwiches, Zara's cutoutz projection performance, and a dance performance that required the participation of the audience shouting out letter-number combinations to tell the dancers which moves to do. We ended up at John and Annie and Emily's apartment where I donned Annie's blonde wig and we danced around to Le Tigre. In this pictures from this party, someone tagged Alex as "that cool guy from NYU" hence the post title.

By the end of the night (I honestly don't remember anything from in between), my all-girl apartment had 3 extra boys sleeping over. That's a lot of heterosexuality. (Or was it?) Was this a good example of Sarah Lawrence? Well Alex, you're going to have to visit again.

Portrait #23: Zach W.S.

2009-03-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of drawing my fellow Fellow Zach at our final retreat for our JFREJ (Jews for Racial and Economic Justice) Fellowship at this crazy pimped out waterside mansion in New Rochelle. Zach and I were the 2 youngest and undergrad fellows, with our ages ranging unevenly from 20-45, so we naturally bonded over that and also a lot of multiple similar identities (esp. as feygelehs). There was this one time that me, Zach, and our friend Alex from the fellowship had this really intense queer brodown where we all told our coming out stories and families and dads.

There was a lot of bonding the weekend of the retreat in general, since a) we had been meeting for all-day monthly sessions for 6 months and b) because we went really deep talking about our feelings and histories on Israel/Palestine. My favorite activity we did was called "life mapping" where we all kicked back together (I DJed) and mapped out our lives, often in regards to our understanding of racism, Jewishness, and coming out, since a lot of us are queer. Also we went through two bottles of Annie's Goddess Dressing! So good.

In sum, it was a good time to draw Zach over the retreat to reflect on this process in the fellowship that we have been through.

Looking back on this above pic, I don't really feel like the Zach drawing turned out with the right facial structure (near the chin/mouth) but I think in person this portrait does look more like him. Like with Erin's portrait, I loved drawing Zach's fierce eyebrows-- they are a very important part of his facial structure. Another total treat deet was his earrings, and also the SOUL PATCH. (Too bad you can't see them right now but maybe I will take a detail pic when my camera comes in.)

Even if this portrait is not perfectly structured right (thanks to my shortness and awk perspective to the page) I got a lot of really great ego-boost support from the other fellows who were my cheering section while the sketchy lady sesh took place. Thanks GPOFfers!

Portrait #22: Julia R. Robers

2009-02-22T22:06:00.000-08:00

Dayyyummmm I wish I did this post right after I did the drawing, like 3 months ago!! God I'm such a bad Sketchy Lady.

Welcome back from Russia, Julia! I had not seen Julia since high school, mostly since I was 15 and we were friends who liked the Cure and watched 80s teen movies. I still wear these combat boots she gave me then too but I changed the laces. So over break we all caught up up and they talked about their study abroad experiences. Julia and I probably get along better now that we are older and wiser. Maybe we always got along well though, who knows. We even dated the same guy consecutively when we were 14! I was done with him when one day he wore a shirt to school that said "I'd rather be masturbating". Matt Rosenfelder, if you're reading this, hello from both of us!

Like Alyza, Julia enjoyed the fact that I painstakingly drew her beautiful necklace. I wish you could see how colorful the turquoise part is. It was good zone-out material while listening to wacky stories about creepy guys in Venezuela and Russia.

I don't necessarily feel like I did the most A+ accurate job on Julia, but def her lips are accurately pouty. Also, the whole gothy-darkness style is only appropriate for a Bard student. Ha.

Portrait #21: Alyza

2009-02-22T21:40:00.000-08:00

I think it is rather appropriate that I took this picture of Alyza with her portrait in my parents' kitchen. Most of the time I've spent with Alyza has been either in my parents kitchen and basement eating pickles, carrots, and hummus. The place I've spend the 2nd most amount of time with Alyza is the powder room of our synagogue when we were in late elementary/early middle school (she was in my older sister's grade). In the latter scenario, Alyza taught all of us nice Jewish girls about things girls should know (dirty jokes, etc) that she learned from her teenage older brother Jason.

It was cool drawing Alyza because she and our friend Julia (post coming soon!) were having a long conversation on my bed, which allowed me a great deal of detail and ability to make corrections. For example, a lack of definition in Alyza's cheeks made them look way too big, which she was not pleased about, but her knack for telling long stories got me outta that one. The way the portrait eventually came out is a lot more accurate than it had been-- I think I'd been out of practice before I got this new drawing pad. It was a luxury to draw someone whose face I'd seen grow and change over the past 10+ years, and really wrap my head around the way her hair behaves texture-wise, and in what ways her nose is super Jewish. Alyza also really appreciated the inclusion of her turtle necklace that she got when she was working with turtles in Costa Rica.

Speaking of Alyza's travels... it is notable that they have been extremely far and wide, moreso than the average college student. I don't know how she did it (flexibility of UMass I guess) but she spent what seems like most of her college years abroad, taking semesters in Argentina and Spain and then travelling for 6+ months afterwards. She sort of disappeared from our lives multiple times but every time she comes home, we manage to still be the extended family we've always been (except for that separation when she and my sister Diane made the transition to high school... woops).

Portrait #20 Alex R.

2008-12-29T14:03:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delays. I've been keeping up with the sketchies but not posting.

I made this drawing of Alex over winter break in Jersey, after we did Jersey things like go to the diner and drive around. This portrait marks the first in my new sketch pad, which Alex helped me buy discount with his mom's account (she's a painter?). It was nice to visit my favorite art supply store... I always dreamt of working there in high school but they only hired full time staff and college kids.

I had to draw Alex twice to get it right, which may or may not be symbolic of the fact that we rarely see each other, being that he goes to Ithaca. I still don't feel like this version really captures his essence (neither does this picture really).

I feel a distantly close kinship with Alex since we are Jews from the same area of Jersey and both turned out having radical politics and an artistic/hipster sensibility (important to admit). We met through my friend Joanna in high school, but didn't become good friends until the weeks leading up to the National Conference on Organized Resistance (NCOR) in Washington DC where we bro-ed down and smelled the stink of anarchists. The peak of the weekend was when we attended a workshop on polyamory in which the facilitators disclosed their sexual relationship, and prompted us to break up into partners and practice having open dialogues about our HIV status, sexual history, goals for the relationship, etc. It was both very educational for us to have this conversation and also obviously very strange. Most people were paired up with complete strangers, if not political acquaintances. After this weekend our gmail chat relationship declined and now we mostly play phone tag over breaks where we're both in NJ.

Anyway, it was really nice driving around in Alex's rickety 1988 car (topped with a bike rack), and observing the development of his eyewear into the hipper. Too bad we don't do that more often because maybe then I would feel more of a comfort that would lend itself to a better portrait.

Portrait #19: Neil M.

2008-12-07T14:40:00.002-08:00

Neil came up to me in the library when I was drawing Antonia and asked me "Beeeeth.... when are you gonna draw meeee?" since I had already asked him. I told him in five minutes. I was proud that my new approach at getting sitters was working. People are so busy at the end of the semester that I decided I should just go to the library with my drawing supplies and draw them when they are doing their work. They were all holding still anyway so why not kill two mosquitoes with one slap. I was glad I knew people in a central place (Hannah and Antonia) so that securing the next sitter would take care of itself, by way of drawing performatively.

The first time I drew Neil in that sitting it was a total disaster. We were sitting in this weird quiet area which was also very dark (maybe the lighter areas are more enabling in terms of noise level?) so I decided to switch positions to get a better look into his eyes. By accident I made his torso too small, so you might notice that I wrote "+3 inches down" underneath the picture. Actually Neil's mini-size makes me feel more comfortable around him than I would if he were real big. I also enjoy it when Neil pretends to nudge and box with me, it is like a little boy thing, or like I am part of this dude-but-gentle-dude club with him because we are in the same height range.

The fact that Neil is on his i-phone in the picture is important. He is kind of known as one of the Big Dems On Campus in that really employable way. I'm pretty sure he started a nonprofit called Vote from Home and took a lot of trips to Ohio before the election. He also has a twitter and is probably subscribed to Barack Obama's twitter. Apple products are a really big part of his life.

Portrait #18: Antonia

2008-12-07T14:40:00.001-08:00

Antonia is Hannah S.'s roommate, so I know her in a very indirect way. Most of what I know about her I have learned in their room when they are winding down from the day. For instance, she really loves the sitcom Friends and has cute pajamas.

She and Hannah recorded some music videos of them singing hits like "Stacy's Mom (has got it goin on)" in which Antonia played the guy singing and Hannah played Stacy's mom. In another video, they sang a Backstreet Boys song where they were both in drag. I totally wanted to throw my panties at Hannah, because she was such a convincing Backstreet Boy. Antonia secretly showed me the videos when Hannah was out of the room, which embarassed Hannah more than I've ever seen. Little did she know how much Antonia's help gave me a deep respect for her ability to portray Nick Carter (and stacy's mom). Antonia was really adorable trying to imitate masculine singing movements, and her giggliness prevented her from staying in character as commitedly as Hannah.

The night I drew Antonia was the first snow of this winter. She was wearing a white scarf so I wanted to use that to create the effect of snowyness. She looked really calm and warm inside her layers while she did her homework in the library. I am proud of my attention to detail in this drawing, especially in the scarf and folds of the sweater. I think I had access to that attention to detail for this drawing because it was the essence of the way she was attentive to her homework. (It is interesting how my approach is different depending on the sitter's personality.) Maybe you can tell it is snowing by the way I drew her.

By the way, Antonia and I have the same camera case. It is pink, so that's awesome, but I told her some friendly advice that my screen still broke inside that case so she should be careful.

Here's a really fuzzy and not helpful closeup. You're probably better off with the above one considering how fucking adorable she looks in the first one.

Portrait #17: John ("Jawn Wahkuh")

2008-12-07T14:39:00.002-08:00

After I drew Gil on Thursday John and I went to the music building to do his drawing while I chatted with Ellary about Jews and racism and jazz music for a project she is doing. John is also a total pretty boy and so I tried to emphasize all his cute madonna-esque moles and his metro style. I made his face too stretched out because I'm so short, so we took a picture of him looking at it from an angle. I think it is the most accurate angle at which to take a photo since it is how I saw it at the time. The below, conversely, is how John saw the it while I was drawing him.

This all took place in Ellary's teacher Glenn's office while he was in the studio on the other side of the door, grooving away on his guitar. I could tell from the sound of it and from his concentration despite guests that he was very intentionally in a zone that we, nor anyone else, could snap him out of.

But, I was pleasantly delighted when Glenn came out and said a lot of things like "Man oh man! Hey dude, that drawing is groovin!" (long hair swayin and his carelss gait). Meanwhile, John was eating clam chowder from the pub and trying to keep his energy low so that he'd stop fidgeting. John was pretty fidgety and freakin out, if you ask me... there was a lot of "ehh! Sorry I keep movin but I'm so suh suhhhhh nervouS!" John is adorable and has studder spasms which have been recorded in France by many facebook videos. He has been pretty comforting to be around in our time of grief. We got through a lot of really sad times this semester by being silly and cuddling and queering out and making up campy jokes. Our favorite is, "You think you know but you have no idea." since that used to be the title of an MTV show. On the same note, we also like "True Life: Don't Make Me Look Fat" in reference to his request for the drawing.

Portrait #16: Gil

2008-12-07T14:39:00.001-08:00

I first heard about Gil when I got accepted to Sarah Lawrence. My down the street neighbors, the Brancaccios, had moved from LA when I was 14 and knew someone from LA who was going to be my year. They were like oh, this guy Gil is awesome, and its so funny because he's a Jew named Gentile! Ha Ha You Should Say Hi To Him When You Get to School. I had pretty high expectations because this family was my favorite out of my parents friends because they were the most intellectual (and famous... David used to host Marketplace on NPR before they moved. and Mary was an awesome English teacher at my high school and really knew how to talk to teenagesrs, I noticed at my mom's 50th birthday party.)

But then I got to school and found this weird looking guy who seemed like a cave person. I didn't say Hi to him until I was at a party during orientation this year (or was it last year?) and as soon as he spoke I realized he was totally NOT a cave person. We totally bonded over knowing Nick Brancaccio since this kid had been in all my art classes and I wanted to be his friend and he and Gil were both into stuff like architecture and drawing. I was so down.

Then Gil and I took the same sculpture class and he totally sculpted a poop for his mold-making project. I thought it was the most brilliant and strategic use of a mold I had ever seen. I hope he makes a million of them and sticks it in someone's room or office who he does not like.

Anyway, Gil was hard to draw because while he has very distinctive features, it didn't look like him until I got millions of marks down to make his hair big enough. John, who is the sitter in the next post, sat behind me and watched and was very encouraging, shouting things like "WOAH that was a good move" when I scratched in some dark eyebrows above Gil's glasses. Gil was very pleased because not only did I get his masking tape on his glasses (SO important) but I made his nose bigger and longer. When his special someone, Zara, came in and saw the drawing, she said the same thing and was like "wow I bet he's so happy you made his nose bigger" and he smiled because it as true. Mostly I really liked making the patterns on his sweater because I think they capture his personality. Also I think his expression ended up really funny.

Here is another picture I drew of Gil once during class:

Portrait #15: My Dad

2008-12-06T17:11:00.000-08:00

After I drew my mom, I drew my dad while we watched Spiderman with Kirsten Dunst and that nice boy Toby McGuire, made possible by our new digital cable's hundreds of channels. I kept getting really distracted by the TV because I forgot how good and slightly campy Spiderman was. (For example, the green goblin kept saying things like "The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout. Down came the Goblin and took the spider out" and "Can Spiderman come out to play?".)

We laughed a lot at the description under the "GUIDE" button: "Nebischy student finds his new powers..." etc. NEBISCHY? When I think of a "nebisch" I think of the people from synagogue when I was a kid who always smelled like cat pee and were all 4 feet tall, who my mom and I call the Silkopaths. I'm sure Toby McGuire (?) does NOT smell like cat pee. But it is interesting to think about whether or not the person writing blurbs for the network is Jewish (or nebischy).

So the story I was going to tell in my last post about how we can joke about our differences goes like this. My dad told his coworkers the story about how I told him he jokingly should feel like an asshole since I got straight A's my senior year after we'd argued a lot about my grades when I was a sophomore. He thought it was really funny and a symbol of our newly stable relationship, but I think his World Financial Center office of Merrill Lynch thought it was strange we talked to each other so candidly. What can I say, we are Jews.

My dad is also the only man at Merrill Lynch with a beard... their token gay financial advisors look a lot more square than he does.

Drawing my dad was adorable because he looked really happy watching tv, kind of smiling in his eyes. I've learned a lot about my genetics from recording my parents' features, since I have studied my own in drawings for many years. I think I get my nose from my dad but I have bigger lips that him (his lips aren't just buried under his beard, they really just are paper thin.) Also I have learned a lot about facial hair from drawing boys. (More hairy boys later.)

Portrait #14: My Mom

2008-12-06T17:04:00.000-08:00

I drew both my parents over Thanksgiving break at their newly remodeled home in Maplewood, New Jersey. For over a year, they had been doing construction on the house I grew up in, moving the bathroom to the foyer of the house and knocking down some walls to make the breakfast room and the little kitchen one big space for food preparation and consumption. It was kind of amazing to have home-cooked meals finally, after a year of coming back to a very dorm-like eating arrangement in the basement. It was also totally weird because I feel that it is a direct result of our class position changing. (For more photos of our kitchen, click here.)

My parents keep making comments to me about how they don't want me to think they are "bougey" as a result of this, because they know that after I left the nest I became more radical. What is special about my family is our ability to joke about our differences and make it a joke in common instead of a division. (More about that in the Dad post.) I don't think they're too bougey, beause they are my adorably happy parents, and at least they are not the Power-Elite. Also it would be SO MUCH WORSE if we celebrated Christmas. I am so against Jews celebrating Christmas. Chinese-food-and-a-movie forever.

Anyway, I drew my mom while she fell asleep reading the New York Times book review, one of her favorite sections. I hope I properly portrayed her relaxation-- she gets very sleepy at night. Over Thanksgiving break my fam stayed up late a few nights watching old family movies. My dad would be like, Oh no, I have work tomorrow! It was adorbs that we love Slutzky family time so much.

I also hope that you can tell she is scratching her dog, George, on her right side. He is so dark that he really had no forms for me to define so I just made him really curly. You can't really tell from my mom's straight hair but George def looks like a Slutzky with that curly hair. Here are his legs! -->

Portrait #13: Cooper

2008-12-06T17:03:00.000-08:00

If I remember correctly, I drew Cooper the same day I drew Hannah D. I had very similar feelings about hair texture, as I was getting into the physical motion of drawing the wavy hair texture. I'm still wondering about the degree to which drawing hair texture in public is performative.

Cooper was super poised while I was drawing her, and the texture of her book's pages was interesting. I've drawn some boring looking books in my day, and this one was a different scene. Thanks for holding your book in a more interesting way, Coop.

I've been really impressed with Cooper's work in our class. There was this one project where we had to use performance to change a space, so Cooper decided she would literally "climb the stairs" of her building like a monkey. It was crazy because she was so fast that the class had to run up the stairs to keep up with her. I felt like I was on a safari chasing a wild monkey, as Jeanine clicked shots of Cooper in her natural habitat.

Portrait #12: Hannah D.

2008-12-01T18:23:00.000-08:00

Drawing Hannah D. was pretty enjoyable because I really like the planes on her face, and her intense look of concentration. She said afterward that she didn't really like being drawn. I think it may or may not have made her uncomfortable. It was different drawing someone in the studio during hours when people were around, because I got a lot more feedback in progress. I think people were into it, which was encouraging. It's interesting when drawing intense textures and shading becomes a performance of sorts, while also being for my own personal fun. I mean, check out her sweet glasses. I was into drawing her hair because wavy hair is kind of amazing to me, as a curly haired person. Also I am a really big fan of Jewish noses, as previously mentioned.

Hannah was weaving or crafting with her hands while I drew her, which is why they are so scribbled in. Hannah's conference project for our sculpture class is based in creating a little greenhouse environment for plants which represent her connection with a friend who is on the other side of the world. She is always making little fun objects which add personality and warmth to the space.

Portrait# 11: Hannah S.

2008-12-01T18:04:00.000-08:00

This portrait was done after one or two dates that I had with Hannah. Since then we have started dating-dating. This portrait was hard to get through because there was a lot of tension, and she was obviously nervous and distracted from her homework. I was pretty distracted too, which accounts for a decline in my "learning curve" in portrait drawing. (I.e. I could have done a much more accurate drawing had we just been platonic friends.)

This one, more than the others, taught me about the gaze (GAYS?) of the artist and how it changes the way people look when they are being observed, and how the gaze is not objective. I mean I guess that was obvious in the previous posts about sitters' requests based on their insecurities and my willingness to attend to their needs. For Hannah's portrait, the effect of my gaze was very unspoken, yet pronounced. (Apparently Hannah was looking up our horoscope compatibility instead of writing a paper.) It definitely remains one of those moments where a couple asks each other in retrospect "what were you thinking then?"

This whole "gaze" thing sort of captured a then-power dynamic based on me being older and her being new to Sarah Lawrence, and new to the clubs that I've been organizing. Since then, I think this power dynamic balanced out a lot, thank god. I was worried I'd end up like my ex-boyfriend, who made me feel like I had to read the complete works of Marx to be on his level. I really don't wanna be that guy!

Portrait #10: Alanna (and me)

2008-12-01T17:48:00.000-08:00

Alanna's portrait was the first during which she also drew me. It was very intense (and postmodern!) because we were both listening to our own music and having our own experience fueling those emotions into codifying our visual perceptions of each other. We were using different media (I was using graphite and she was using a micron pen on a small sketch pad) so there are also inherent stylistic differences since she didn't have as many smudgy gradients and I didn't have as much of a contrast between lights and darks. Maybe that is what pushed me to really dig in with the graphite stick to up the contrast. I think people who walked by us in the library were kind of confused about what was going on. Because whatever it was, it was out of place and hella intense.

In each portrait there is a different emphasized area or technique, which isn't always conscious but always interesting to read into depending on the relationship. I realized recently that since most of my sitters are doing homework while I draw them, their gaze in the direction of their hands. While hands are usually the last thing I think to draw, the drawing looks incomplete without putting them in since that is, in some ways, the focal point. In Alanna's portrait I tried to resist this temptation to scratch in the hands at the end, but I think they are still not as worked out as the folds in her sweatshirt or her facial expression. I consider that a strength in the rendering of her computer since it makes apple's design look a little silly instead of severely geometric. (My first year I did a whole painting series on people and computers... more later on the Fe Fy Fo Femme blog.)

Anyway here is the drawing Alanna did of me:

I'm pretty pleased with it because she gave me very strong, Jewish features in this really stylized way. I wouldn't say that the visual image is how I see myself exactly but I'd say it's generally flattering. I also think it's kind of funny that she included my lower back sticking out from my clothes on the side. Alanna is apparently a very truthful draughtsperson-- something I wouldn't know from what I've seen of her conceptual sculpture and photography work. It'll be interesting to compare how I draw myself as a final portrait for this project to the portrait Alanna drew of me. (Foreshadowing????)

PS. I feel that she made me look Byzantine like these lambs.

Portrait #9: Lisa

2008-12-01T15:38:00.000-08:00

I met Lisa last school year when I was assigned to live with her on campus in Slonim 8. We immediately became friends due to our common love in artist Cindy Sherman. Actually, before I got to Sarah Lawrence I saw a facebook group called "Cindy Sherman: Or, How I Became a Lesbian"... which I joined. I knew deep inside that I had found the right school for me. So it was saach a pleaszhuh to look back on that group two years later and realize that I had become friends with all 4 people in the group, Lisa being one of them.

Lisa and I had a nice time taking advantage of my homework assignment in order to catch up. I consider her a close friend of mine although we aren't that good at hanging out on a regular basis-- I'm too flaky and Lisa is too reclusive. She would make fun of me last year for not knocking on her door enough, to which I replied, "well, you're all the way downstairs!" Mostly we run into each other in the library and on the train from the city but it is always just like old times.

For the drawing, I took extra care on her fingers because I always thought the way she held things was really nice. Her fingers are kind of long and pretty, touching things delicately, and you can kind of imagine her kneading bread with them or doing something cozy. (Not to force her into a gender role.) I also took extra care with her glasses (because they are so angular and add an interesting dimension). I kind of wish I got to draw her teeth because they are also very nice as you can see from the photo.

It was also a relief to finally draw curly hair again. Being the curly headed gal that I yam (I YAM WHAT I YAM... LOL LISA!!!111) I have a special comfort in drawing the kind of shape I learned on. Speaking of which, Lisa's mom sent me a book last year called "Curly Gurl" after she visited from Houston. AWwwwwww. Like motha like dawtuh.

Portrait #8: Charlotte

2008-11-16T20:47:00.000-08:00

Before I drew Charlotte, she went through my big bag of old clothes and picked out the sweater she wanted. Her project (for the same assignment as this blog) is bartering/exchanging objects with people, to find out what they will trade their things for. I was pleased to draw her in her new sweater; it looks better on her than me. It also produced some nice folds that I liked drawing with the thin side of my graphite stick.

This was not the first time I drew Charlotte, although it was the first time I drew her since we've actually known each other. She was the sitter for this painting that I did first year (but not for long enough that I'd be able to accurately paint her hair and shoulders):

I thought at the time it looked pretty cool despite the lack of hair-resemblance, since I focused a lot on the background (using a palette knife) and the way it related to the foreground on the profile side of her face. I think I learned a lot about planes in this painting, specifically in the cheek/eye/bangs part of the painting. It's hard to see the nose in the more recent drawing but I think I did her nose more successfully 2 years ago. The lips and eyes are pretty similar in both pieces, which is not to say that Charlotte still looks the same. It is hard to know how much my brain records images and how much it injects into each drawing a preconcieved notion of each person's physical essence.

Today Charlotte and I collaborated on a performance piece for the class we are in together. To read about it, you can go to my other blog, called Fe Fy Fo Femme (as soon as I post on it). Basically what happened is that we performed Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give it Up" on the elliptical machines at the gym, therefore breaking the social seal of individual gym music/body experiences. I wonder how my approach to her drawing would change after that.

Portrait #7: Jen

2008-11-02T15:31:00.000-08:00

Jen is my new buddy. She is an awesome organizer for Solidarity Club, which is organizing against the evictions of tenants in the Hill House apartment building which was turned into a dorm. I think it is pretty tight because evicting the tenants is a super sketchy and unethical way of making some extra cash for our tiny endowment-- the College would probably make at least 4 times the amount off of sticking first years into triple-bedrooms, since the apartments are currently rent stabilized. Anyway. Back to Jen. She is rad and makes President Karen Lawrence tremble with her revolutionary fervor. LOL We really love radical theory and praxis!

Also Jen came with me to the FIERCE Bowlathon and was part of our JFREJ (Jews for Racial and Economic Justice) team. It was fun and I beat her bigtime in the second round (75 points! Jeez I am a bowling star waiting to happen JKJKJK).

While I was drawing Jen, she was reading this book called "The Oral History Reader" pictured in the lower left corner as "THE ORAL". I tried to portray her true beauty but I think it only half worked. She looked toadelly teen girl hardcore on my bed in her black pants and leg position, especially since we were listening to Sunny Day Real Estate (I needed some sad music in the background and I figured the best place to find it was my 14-year old music library). Jen didn't mind the music even though she is really into hip hop and freestyling.

I think the position of sitters near my pillow definately has an effect on the mood of the drawings and the experience. It's like I'm examining from afar the way they interact with my personal sleeping space. As the semester goes on, they are more likely to want to study while I draw them and sometimes it is hard for them to concentrate and/or sit still. Jen was good at concentrating since we were in a reflective mood.

Epilogue: Quit Playin' Games with My Heart

2008-11-02T08:11:00.000-08:00

I am very grateful to have drawn a portrait of Spencer on October 6th. About ten days later, October 17th, his heart failed after taking a turn for the worse and he died in the hospital. It is so sad that his life was cut so short. It was really unexpected (at least for me) because I was really convinced by his attitude toward his heart condition that he was going to be fine. He had so much courage to live life so fully and remain as active as he did. I am really glad I got to know him better in the weeks leading up to his death, and it's been really hard in the weeks after it to realize that we can't keep developing our friendship in the same way. (He lives on through our memory of him, and all the things that remind us of him.)

His parents were very glad to have the picture of Spencer with the portrait, and now they have it on their refrigerator to help them remember him. (I offered them the drawing itself but they wanted me to keep it so that it can help me remember him.) Apparently the day I had drawn him was his mother Penny's birthday, so in a way it is a gift to her to have such a recent and angelic photo of him. I'm really glad for my art to help a family in the unbearable process of grieving for a child.

It has been interesting to reflect on how my drawing my friends marks a new step in our relationship, and how the intimate process of drawing them helps us acquaint ourselves in a basic but intense way. Spencer was very persistent in becoming part of this drawing project that night while we were waiting for our other friend to call me. He clearly really valued the experience of being drawn-- for example, he held out a stillness for a very long time, and finally he asked "hey Beth do you mind if I scratch my head with my right arm? I'm SO ITCHY." It was kind of ridiculous since he was doing me a big favor to hold a pose for a lengthy time without pay/collateral, and tried to ignore his itch for so long. That's kind of similar to the way he was about his heart, I think-- never really complained about it. When I told this story about the head-scratch at his memorial on Thursday night, Penny came up to me and said that it was an example of how much Spencer would do anything for art, and told me a story about how he had bronchitis during a school play, and miraculously controlled his breaths to not cough for an entire scene (only to let out some hacks as soon as the stage went black).

I guess in a way this blog has had an overall cheeky tone, which is fun but also doesn't really get at all the truths of the experience. When I was drawing Spencer I couldn't get over how sweet he looked sitting there looking up at me and how nice it was we were getting to know each other. Which is of course connected to the Backstreet Boys joke. Multiple truths.

Goodbye, Spencer. We love you and miss you.

Portrait #6: Brian

2008-10-13T19:02:00.000-07:00

So far Brian has been the most "involved" sitter I have drawn. (Meaning he kept nagging "Can I see it?? Make my chin longer, move my eyebrow up. I don't think my ear goes out that far" etc. If you remember from the first post, he was the one that asked not to be drawn as "skinny and Jewish". That portrait failed pretty hard because of my attention to his requests although I went pretty wild with the texture of his sweater (which he wore again in this portrait). This time around, he was very interested in the other sitters' requests for certain features and was very pleased that I subconsciously emphasized his Italian side. Brian has a newfound affinity for Italian culture after spending a year in Florence. After I was done with the drawing he commended me that it looked like an Italian fresco. Mostly I like the rumpledness of his sweater and how it shows his slouchy posture. The picture above reveals the witty, performative side of Brian's personality.

Brian had a really good time eating the Trader Joe's Ginger Snaps while being drawn, and talking about his crazy dreams which he was excited to go to sleep for. We also went to town making up new lyrics to "Wagon Wheel" pertaining to Obama. (e.g. "rock me momma like a wagon wheel" --> "barack obama can cook brisket meals") We tried to incorporate both mainstream media coverage of the election but also some radical politics "Barack obama let's be real, barack obama you're imperial. youuuuuuu can project onto him your politics". To which Brian "HA HA HA HA HA"ed at for about a commercial slot length of time.

I'm Beth Slutzky and I endorse this message.

Portrait #5: Muriel

2008-10-12T17:14:00.000-07:00

"Have you ever drawn any of your friends naked?" Muriel asked.
"People? Yes, many. My friends? Not recently," I replied.
"Well..." she said and we both nodded. "I could wear my bra and panties...?"

So then we listened to "Disturbia" by Rihanna for the fiftieth time in our apartment and talked about how it was probably about the collapse of Capitalism (check out the lyrics) while I began to draw her sitting on my bed. I had just done laundry and all my "hang to dry" clothes were doing just that. I thought this floral dress would be a nice 2nd character in the story because it would bring up a bunch of stuff about femme identity in Muriel's portrait and bring up questions about how she feels being naked and scrutinized by her friend. She has been my most patient sitter so far which I think contributes to the good proportions in this portrait even if the composition is kind of strange. She looks very alert and focused which is also how I feel she is about our friendship.

Here is a picture of the dress, after I had it in my closet overnight. Miraculously its folds were in the same position, I guess since it had dried that way. Maybe Muriel's folds are the same today because she dried that way also.

Portrait #4: Ellary

2008-10-08T11:03:00.001-07:00

Ellary was singing soulfully along to Nina Simone while I drew her, practicing for a performance she did Thursday night. She got so into the music that it made her move around a lot. Her palms pressed together in her lap made it look like she was praying. I could tell that it was an out of body experience but that didn't stop me from telling her that she needed to change back to her original position so that I could get the drawing right. Maybe that's why her shoulder is so big in the picture-- she was sinking further and further to her right as she sang with her eyes closed. Next time I draw Ellary hopefully it won't be one of her practice nights.

Portrait #3: Spencer B.

2008-10-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

When I drew Spencer, he unknowingly followed a trend in my sitters, by requesting that I don't make his nose and ears too big. He congratulated me afterwards that I satisfied his needs. Personally, I think I made him look like a Backstreet Boy, with the whole bent knee and clean-cut look. Also maybe he fits into this Backstreet Boys video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1KdkQv0FfI

My question for Spencer is why he abstained from the wet t-shirt contest and chest-fondling which comes along with the package.

Portrait #2: Sarah J.

2008-09-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

Today I drew Sarah before we went to the gym. Sarah spent her 10-15 minutes looking at the No Doubt CD (Tragic Kingdom) which was sitting on top of the stereo. While I was drawing her she told me about how she and her ex-boyfriend's mom and her shared their looks and interests in common. One example is a talent for writing; Sarah is a brilliant fiction writer, which is such a known fact that her parents heard it through the grapevine. Sarah moved her arms around a lot so I couldn't really correct them, but judging from her position in this picture I think she likes the drawing even though her body is pretty out of proportion. Here is a closeup of the face:

The first time I depicted Sarah 2-dimensionally was in an oil painting in May of 2007. I was doing a painting series about the way that the internet and computers isolates people. My sitter for this particular painting was upset with the way I depicted him (sick and lonely) and about the connotation of the paint color (green). At the time I misunderstood his anger and had nightmares that he would come into the studio at night and destroy it, despite the fact that it was due in a week. I clearly needed a quick solution! So Sarah saved the day (and my conference work) by offering her lovely face. Mostly what I changed about his face is the many little planes on the nose, made his eyelids look thinner, and his lips rounder on the sides. Below is the Martin-Sarah hybrid, in a piece titled "Hybrid" (to play on the organic/geometric//human/machine concept).

Sarah's rating: 4 out of 5

Portrait #1: Hannah M.

2008-09-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

This weekend I drew Hannah with a graphite stick. She had a somewhat bored expression in the drawing although she was more expressive since she was talking to Megan and Sarah. Having sat in the round bucket chair, she looks trapped in or disgusted by, our apartment, or maybe her new job as an RA. I accidentally drew her hands too small, but I think their silly quality makes it look like Hannah is unconsciously fiddling with them out of nervousness. Hannah asked me not to draw her to look round and Irish, referencing Brian having asked me not to draw him skinny and Jewish. (I had an easier time following Hannah's request.)

Portrait rating: 4 out of 5