Thursday, May 5, 2011

Larger Than Life

I drew this larger than life-size pastel for a film festival lobby last century, obviously referencing a famous movie, but trying to not duplicate a specific photo. I tried to bring a little heat to it.

Drawing ©Thom Buchanan — Billowing Dress — 1995

Any resemblance to a famous movie star is intentional, but the drawing was not made for commercial gain. I did not make one penny from it. And you shouldn't either. Anybody trying to do so is going to feel more than my wrath, but the wrath of a multi-million dollar estate. You've been warned.

11 comments:

Sam G said...

Very nice. I'm always amazed at how vibrant pastel can be. How long did this take to create?

Unca Jeffy said...

Gorgeous Thom. Nice to see you sharing your own stuff here.

Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Thanks Sam. The other nice thing about pastels is how fast they can be used to create something. I think that took less than two hours for the drawing (to include a tea break to analyze what the finishing touches should be).

Thanks Jeff. I figured if this is an autobiographical examination of the pictorial arts, I should slip a bit more of my junk in here.

M. D. Jackson said...

Nice work, Thom.

Annie said...

Nice work! I wrote a very short poem you might enjoy, that refers to that famous photo.

Annie said...

Nice work! I wrote a very short poem a couple of years ago, that you might enjoy, referring to that famous photo.

Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Thanks M.D.!

Thanks Annie! I'd love to read that.

Thank Annie! I'd love to read that.

Annie said...

Sorry for the duplicate! Same poem, and here's the link: http://anniekingwrites.blogspot.com/2008/10/who-is-marilyn-monroe_22.html

(I didn't say it was a good poem.)

Have a wonderful birthday weekend!

Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Duplicates make it twice as good to hear from you! It's going to be a working birthday and weekend, but it'll be nice enough. Thanks again, Annie!

LC Douglass said...

Odd, there are a lot of Marilyn blog posts floating around today. But this was the best. Beautiful piece Thom. Lovely light, it has a fifties 'feel' to it - and some sexiness tempered with nostalgia.

borky said...

Well, we knew you had an artist's eye, Thomas, now we know you've got an artist's hand!

Personally, I love pastels, but using them powerfully, even effectively's something of a mystery to me, (or, at best, hit and miss).

I tell you what, though, this whole copyright business's in danger of putting a stop to the arts - it's really getting out of hand, it really is.

That iconic 'modern art' Obama image is, to me, a true work of art. The original photo's nothing special - good, but no better than a million similar good shots by a millions other good photogs.

Yet the guy who transformed it from pewter to solid diamond, (helping the original work stand out and achieve a stratospheric level of fame it could never've otherwise achieved), was in danger of getting his arse sued off; and even then he's only got a 50-50 split of the takings.

I'm a great believer in share the wealth - but there's such a thing as fairness, too.