The Gina Sigman Gallery

One of my favorite actors.  The only thing missing is that distinguished authoritative voice of his. 

Our neighbor, Alicia, wearing a very "Gagesque" ensemble I designed. I'm hoping to see her around somewhere and give her this picture. Who knows? She might wear this outfit in one of her shows!

Port Arthur, Tx is a shithole. I don't mind saying it. It's smelly, ugly, hot, humid, mosquito-ridden and just down-right boring. Ask my brother, Steve. He lived there for a year and it almost killed him. They say that  the greatest blues music comes from sorrow and heartache. Maybe that's why the late Janis Joplin's music is so intense and passionate, it tears a hole in your heart. I hope this rendition of her, captures that free, yet tormented spirit of hers.

a real treat for sore eyes. Art is my refuge from an ugly world.

I recently watched Victoria on Amazon. I was enchanted by the dress and the culture of that time period. It inspired me to paint this rendition of Her Majesty. I'm thinking of changing my artist name to Gina DaVinci. What do you think?

I felt like this was the only way to Express my feelings about the new world of social distancing. Trapped behind glass and unable to swim with the other mermaids.  I'm growing barnacles from lack of care. My fins are oozing. Humans weren't meant to live in a sterile, isolated state for long.

I got my usual text from my daughter on Mothers Day.  " hey mom Happy Mothers day. Did anything arrive yet?"  Monday, 'anything' still didn't arrive.  The flowers arrived Tuesday evening, a bouquet of yellow and pink roses and unopened lilly buds with a card that said "we dont always agree but Happy mothers day."  As the flowers started to wilt, I picked out my favorite pink roses and placed them in a mason jar. Ahhhhhh lovely. Barry saw the beauty of the newly revised bouquet sitting on our stone coffee table in the late evening filtered sun. He took a picture of it.  But wait,. I wasn't done yet. I decided to use his photo as a reference for a painting titled "The Afterthought." It got over 250 likes on Facebook and they are still coming in. This painting is a pictorial testimony of beauty and peace in the midst of a cold bitter world. the original bouquet My reference: Barry's beautiful photo  

First it was 3 weeks, then 40 days, and now, I've lost count.  My internal calendar looks like this: Today, yesterday and tomorrow.   Those poor hairdressers and aestheticians. They're going broke while their clients are growing weeds.  Yes weeds..  As a result of the lock down, my mind has become a burgeoning garden of creativity.  I thought this depiction might express the inner feelings of many of us as we face total isolation and de-socialization, and a gradual descent into dishevelization. Yes.  I know that's not a word but. let's be fair, none of us really look like this woman either!

I love playing with light and shadow.

We love coffee! We have two cups in the morning and another in the afternoon.  So...I created this vintage looking drawing to go in my kitchen over our busy coffee maker. 

I found the inspiration for this design on Pinterest. The colors are so elegant!

Another turn of the century circa 1910 inspiration. 

I love her earring dangles.

ALlelujah! ]

Grateful for this opportunity to create something beautiful. 

Corona virus...still shrouded in mystery. Chloroquin and erythromycin  might help but Cuomo is guarding the supply. I wonder if Byrds Peacock oil will cure it? It exists only on this page.

I went on a Scarlett spree for a while; drawing her in every dress she wore in the movie. Although this one only appeared as a painting on the wall, I still consider it part of her wardrobe. Here she is, wearing the majestic blue velvet portrait dress.

I enjoy drawing things of the past because it makes me think of simpler times when people were all more innocent. Today is Good Friday. God have mercy on us all....

There hasnt been a pandemic this serious since the Spanish flu in 1918

I decided to start drawing again. It eases my mind. I dont know when we will come out of this isolation. It has been in place since March 13th.

More corona virus humor no one will see.

After years, of "showing up", posting, emailing, and failing to get recognized or admitted to any art galleries, no matter how large or small, I'm faced with the fact that I am a FAILURE as an artist.  What does it mean to be a successful artist?  I don't know because I've never been one. But if I had to say what accomplishments constitute a good artist, I would have to say being in a gallery, being recognized in some way either by a contest or by media and most importantly, having a healthy number of followers.  Take this blog for example.  It has a following of ZERO. (Maybe one if I count myself)  This cartoon drawing I did this morning is an example of the mediocrity I project as an artist and why no one bothers to look at it.  It lacks the dimension and pizazz that good artists have and believe me; there are many good artists out there. This drawing got a couple of likes on Facebook and a big fat ONE on Instagram.  My daughter thought the st...

Sorry folks, I have plummeted into an artist funk. I'll admit it. I got myself this way as I often do by talking myself down and lumpjng myself into the Bob Ross genre of artists. Cheap, kitschy and average. My husband says I'm my own worst enemy. He's probably right. This latest funk I'm in, started with this drawing. When I first embarked on it,  I thought it would be the most fun and possibly the easiest to draw. After all I was hot and on a roll with the whole Lucy thing. I was excited about drawing Lucy's wide open smile and her bright red bell hop hat. Turns out it was neither fun nor easy. In fact, it turned out be an exercise in frustration with an outcome of THUMBS DOWN. It took me 6 to-dos to get it even close to the original picture and as you can see, something's off. I thought my days of bad drawings were behind me, but this one proves they are not. In fact it was so bad, the moderator of the the Digital Artists Guild wouldn...

When we moved to sunny California from rainy Houston more than a half a decade ago, I realized how much I miss the rain. A storm here in Santa Barbara county is a few gray clouds and a little spit from the sky in the wee hours of the morning. By the time you get up, the sun is out and you never get to enjoy it. People here like it but, I pine for those Gulf coast soakers where the sky turns navy blue and it looks like the end of the world. Rain drops the size of peach pits pummel your windows while claps of thunder as loud as a sonic boom, energize me like a shot of B12. I need to be watered, I think to myself as I lick my desert-dry lips. So, since mother nature will not honor my requests, I create it on canvas. I love rain and I love New Orleans so if you can't find me today, I'm vacationing inside this painting. If you like wet weather,  there's more to come at The Gina Sigman Gallery.

While Lucy stretched the muscles of her face, turning out this pathetic pout, I was busy at work, stretching my skills in drawing facial expression. It's pretty easy drawing a flat expression or a slight smile but emotion like this takes a very focused eye and a sharp pen. 

Lucy was the queen of deception! This hilarious disguise was one of the classics. Ricky wasn't the only man to get caught in her web of deceptive schemes. William Holden got a good dose of it in this episode. How do you draw fire? With a cool hand. That's how. 

Lucy was always scheming to get into showbiz. That's what made the show, right? In this episode, she did it in a BIG way.  That head dress must have weighed a ton for real but Lucy made it look easy and hard at the same time. Painting this was a similar experience for me: easy and hard at the same time.  The easy part was, I got to paint my favorite things: Lucy, pinkness, feathers and bling. The hard part was bringing pulling her expression, likeness and all of the details together.  It was a meticulous labor of love.

My husband doesn't know it yet but in 2 weeks, he will be getting a Tshirt with this painting on it that reads "I love my husband so much, I drew this."  And it's true! He is always buying me little thoughtful gifts and while I'm not trying to compete with him, I just want to show him how much he means to me too!  March 3rd, 11 years ago, we met each other face to face for the first time.  After months of texting and phone calls, we finally met in person and from that day on, our love was sealed.  This rendering was taken from a photo of our wedding in Vegas.  I get chills just looking at it.  We are both as in love with each other as we were that chilly day in March when I stepped off the plane in Santa Barbara and fell into his arms.  I remember him saying to me once when I said, "I really like you but I'm done with relationships."  He replied, "so...you're just gonna throw love away?"  I'm so glad I didn't.  The only thing...

3 days ago, I plunged into creating Norton and Ralph after a request from one of my clients who runs an air b and b. She collects work from artists who paint TV memorabilia.  When faced with this project, I cowered with the thought of using a palette  of black and white value shades. It forces me to have to think in shapes, measurements and proportions. Painting in color is a little more forgiving. The process of creating the lines for Ralph's ample frame seemed to just flow from my pen with very little corrections. Nort was a different story. I went through a 24 hour mental block, trying to understand why I couldn't get the right proportions on him! Yes...black and white will continue to challenge and stretch my artistic skills.

If there was one thing Lucy was notorious for, it was going to extremes.  In my last blog, we found her locked in a freezer.  Then in this classic, she burns to a crisp just so Ricky will feel sorry for her and buy her that Don Loper dress. That look of pain and shock as Mr. Loper pulls the collar up over her sunburned neck was one of the most difficult facial expressions I've ever drawn but, if I'm gunna draw Lucy, I'd better get used to it!

The first time I saw this episode, I felt sorry for Lucy.  Poor Lucy; freezing to death in that freezer.  This rendering was a challenge.  First of all, I wanted to make you feel as cold as she looked which is why I chose a limited palette of teal, gray, white and aqua, adding a tinge of yellow and pink to give it a spectral glaze.   The next challenge was to embellish it with icicles to take the drawing a few more degrees below freezing.  So, grab a fork, a knife and a bottle of ketchup and follow me to the biggest barbecue in the whole world!  Waaaaaaaah!

Indeed, Lucy wasn't afraid to look bad or messy when other actresses were always fixing their hair and looking glamorous.  Somehow though, even through the comedy, I manage to see her real beauty shining through.  I mean, just look at those legs! In keeping with the body of work I've compiled in this series, you'll notice I feature Lucy and Lucy only.  The stocky lady who appeared in this scene would have been fun to draw too but again, the focus is on Lucy.  Arrivadirci!