Poodle Addiction

I found this cute little guy a few days ago at Magpie Vintage in downtown Portland. He was made in Japan and was a very good price so I certainly couldn't leave him behind!

A Day at the Beach, Biarritz, September 1931

My largest beach scene (to date) is finally complete (24"x36" canvas). I had a lot of fun painting this, the hard part was knowing when to quit!

Blue and Green

The past couple of days I can't seem to stay away from blues and greens. Here are Miss Fiona Burroughs and Addison Hibbard.

Mary L. Withers of Raleigh, NC 1932

Gouache on watercolor paper.

Nina Zoe Kitts, Rose Festival Queen, 1917

I don't have any idea who "discovered" who on Flickr! but it feels
like I've been enjoying the work of Elizabeth Bauman for as long as I
can remember. We are both inspired by vintage photographs and
Elizabeth was generous enough to scan and email one she found recently
at the Portland Antique Expo.

She suggested that we could both use it as a source of inspiration
since our painting styles are so different and it would be fun to see
the different interpretations of the same image. Our subject was the
lovely Nina Zoe Kitts, Rose Festival Queen from 1917.

We both completed our paintings in roughly the last week with very
little discussion about how we were painting her and I've been eagerly
waiting all week to see what Elizabeth has painted! Here is my painting and a link to
Elizabeth's blog here : http://www.elizabethbaumanart.blogspot.com/

I. Stanley Breit, graduating class of 1930

A fun, new piece, trying to do some more interesting male characters. Gouache on plywood.

Works on paper

A few more portraits on paper, Miss Dora Little of Macon, GA (bottom) and Miss Virginia Dunklee of Pleasant Hill NC (top).

Violent Summer

Another great movie by Valerio Zurlini filmed in 1959 but the story takes place in Italy during the summer of 1943. Set in a seaside town Carlo (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and his peers have avoided the war by staying in college and through connections of their parents. Everything changes when Carlo meets Roberta, (Eleonora Rossi Drago) an older woman and war widow. No one in the movie is happy about their relationship. Carlo's friends just want fun in the sun, dancing and tennis. Roberta's family just wants her to spend the rest of her life mourning her war hero husband though she is only 30 years old. There is a lot of foreshadowing but nothing to really prepare you for the ending of this beautifully shot film.

Miss Henrietta Whisnant and Ms. Ruth Boyer Meet for Coffee Several Years After Graduating from University

I've been painting a lot of the women from my yearbook this past week. I just did a single portrait of Miss Ruth Boyer this morning. This painting is her and her old college friend Henrietta a few years after they have graduated from the Univerisity of North Carolina. Ruth has gone on to be "Ms." but Henrietta is still retaining her "Miss" status. They mutually agreed to meet for coffee at a local cafe but have found that they really have nothing to say to one another.

Miss Ruth Boyer of Winston-Salem, NC original painting

Another inspired by a photo from my 1930 Yackety Yack yearbook. Gouache on watercolor paper.

Miss Sophia Clifton on the Night of her Sophomore Prom, Chapel Hill, NC 1930

Gouache on plywood, available in my etsy shop. I'm trying to make my characters take up more physical space, I have a tendency to paint my figures relatively small so this was a good challenge.

Laura Did Her Best to Look as if She was Having a Splendid Time, Though No one Was Asking Her to Dance

I named her Laura in the painting though this piece is inspired by the movie, "Alice Adams" starring Katharine Hepburn. This is one of the most heart wrenching scenes in the movie where she is mingling with high society and being snubbed because she is poor and is wearing last year's organdy dress while everyone else turned up in the latest and much more sophisticated styles. Alice is making every attempt in the world to appear as if she were having the time of her life though everyone is avoiding her.

New Portraits

I had so much fun painting these two simple portraits on paper yesterday, a nice break from busy backgrounds!

Girl With a Suitcase

I've taken a short break from the 30's films and watched Valerio Zurlini's 1961 film Girl with a Suitcase a few days ago. The star Claudia Cardinale (Aida) is great to watch. There are times when you find her character silly and stupid and you become annoyed with her for being so easily duped by every man she encounters. At other times you admire how she just won't give up. I would love to say something about how the end of this movie struck me but I hate to give away endings to those who haven't seen it. I'll suffice to say (I don't think I've ever used that word and i hope I've used it correctly) that I wasn't left feeling very happy and optimistic after watching Aida drag an impossibly heavy looking trunk around for almost 2 hours (actually several days in the film), and end up no closer to a place that she could call home.

Maurine Always Felt Like Such a Wallflower Whenever She Was Around Dorothea and Lyda, Early Spring of 1931.

I was in the mood to do a painting with LOTS of patterns after doing several in a row that were more along the lines of simple (not that I ever end up doing simple it seems). After two full days on this piece, I've had my fill of patterns, at least for a day or so! I did have fun making Maurine almost blend in with the wallpaper.

The Anderson Children One Sunday, Early Spring, 1953

The Anderson Children One Sunday, Early Spring, 1953
Originally uploaded by viviennestrauss

gouache on plywood; inspired by a vintage photo

A Typical Tuesday in Tutwiller Park, 1964

Gouache on canvas, 14" x 18". I had a lot of fun with this piece, I've run across a lot of really cute vintage photos of children lately on my own and through friends on Flickr! so I'll be working on a few more of children in the near future.

Springtime in Rome

Well, as close as I can get to it today! I watched "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" today for the umpteenth time. I just love Vivien Leigh in this role and I've been a fan of Tennessee Williams longer than I care to admit. I love all the sets, clothes and story here, and I apologize if you are a Warren Beatty fan but he is the weak link in this film. I would rather have seen this made with an unknown Italian actor than have to watch Warren with his faux tan and dreadful attempt at an Italian accent. He is good at playing a sleaze so I'll give him that much. Ooops, I didn't mean to turn this into a Warren Beatty bash, sorry!! I do love this story, thank you Tennessee for another great one!

Miss Kitty Departs on a Voyage

Miss Kitty Departs on a Voyage
Originally uploaded by viviennestrauss

hand embroidered and appliqued on unbleached muslin. original and prints to be available in my etsy shop :)

Daria Takes Beaumont for a Walk

Daria Takes Beaumont for a Walk
Originally uploaded by viviennestrauss

Hand embroidered on unbleached muslin. Original piece and prints available in my etsy shop. I had to re-do the image on this, sorry for the wonderful comments that were deleted :(, blogger doesn't seem to be working well today for me.

Alice Adams

I don't remember the last time a movie made me so tense and uncomfortable. Well I guess I can, but because they were terrible movies and not due to great acting and directing. I've seen a lot of Katharine Hepburn films but after seeing her play Alice Adams, I think this is one of her finest roles ever. Alice is trying hard to fit in with a social set to which she does not belong and exerts a tremendous amount of energy pretending to have a wonderful time when she isn't. The real tragedy of the film is that Alice spends so much time portraying the person she wants to be, you get a sense that Alice doesn't really know herself at all. I felt myself on the verge of all out weeping throughout the length of the film and was saving my tears for the very end which did not end as I had expected it to. I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it and want to but it doesn't end the way the book on which it is based (by Booth Tarkington) though both Hepburn and director George Steven's wanted it to. The producers desired a "happy" ending much like they did at the end of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (unlike the ending of Truman Capote's novel). For some reason, my mind doesn't accept these nice, neat little Hollywood endings and I cry at the end as if they ended badly.

Edna Mae Mueller Drinks Her Morning Coffee and Wonders if Life is Passing Her By

Gouache on plywood, available in my etsy shop.

Martha Stewart Crafts blogs about Hanahou Show!!

I usually don't post twice in a day but couldn't wait on this! The Forget-Me-Not show at Gallery Hanahou has ended but the publicity for it has not! I found this today http://thecraftsdept.marthastewart.com/2009/03/forget-me-not-embroidery-show-at-gallery-hanahou.html and all works from the show can still be purchased from here http://juniemoon.jp/jpn/shop/artwork.cgi?c=2

While Donald Basks in Female Attention, Emily Wishes that Wendy and Her Big Beach Ball Would Disappear

Gouache on plywood (9" x 12") available in my etsy shop. I wanted to give this piece for of a 1960s feel and attempted yet again to paint a more manly man.

Phoebe, Drifting

Latest Phoebe painting, I always like to see what she's going to do next :)

Portrait of Nathalie K.

Gouache on watercolor paper.

Lucky Find yesterday

While browsing through some discounted items at Powell's Books yesterday I found this 48 page photography magazine of ballerinas and danseurs of the Ballets Russes. I couldn't find a date anywhere but estimate this to be from the 1930s or 40s. This is Tamara Toumanova on the cover. Quite a few of the photographs are of the dancer in mid air and one can't help looking for wires holding them up, they really are incredible photos!

Fleurs de Printemps dans le Jardin du Plaisir (Spring Flowers in the Garden of Pleasure)

Here is the painting inspired by The Ballets Russes and Edward Gorey. I will have to do another one soon, I had so much fun working on this piece!