So I got out the gouache paints again this week and tried to just relax, loosen up, not be too stern in my judgment of the results and above all, enjoy myself. Also, to get away from the security of my old pal, the black outline and attempt to draw with the brush rather than a pen.

I got out Robert Tuggle’s book, “The Golden Age Of Opera” (Holt Rinehart & Wiston, 1983) for inspiration. The stories in this book look back at the period 1906 – 1932 in Metropolitan Opera history and are amazing, hilarious and tall.  The photographs of Herman Mishkin are evocative beyond the power of words to express!

 

I used Mr. Mishkin’s pictures as base material but deliberately tried not to get hung up on achieving likenesses, then decided to sign the “photographs” of the singers. I kinda wish, now, I’d just done stylish scribbles a la Saul Steinberg’s document drawings… Oh well, you live and learn. I’m soooo excited  about this new, looser me. Can’t wait to do more!