Ah, the life of an artist.

Lately, I have been feeling like I’m going down a stream, with one foot on one boat, and one foot on another boat. I have started my new Archeology Art series. I have also had a very busy show schedule, all focused on my Film Noir Art series.

A tiny doodle from my journal.

Look! I'm somebody!

Over four months, I had FIVE different shows. In total, I had 4 group shows and a solo show. I spoke on stage. I was filmed by our local community television station. I had an artists salon. I won an award. My art was on the cover of an online magazine. All the while, I executed a social media BLITZ about each and every bit.

With my new series, I feel particularly sensitive because I’ve never done anything like it before. The result is, I've totally stalled out on my social media posts.

Behind the curtain...

Social Media- a blessing and a curse.

My Instagram Page

Nevertheless, for an artist like me, posting regularly is almost like a portfolio in itself. It lends "legitimacy" to an artist, like a calling card, showing prospective collectors or gallerists that you are active, responsive, interesting, and aware of your public. There is even a rule of thumb about having a certain percentage of "work in progress" (WIP) content, finished artwork content, and "slice of life" content to have on your social media page for maximum engagement. Typically, I document the intimate details of how I develop a piece of art with photos and videos, and post them on social media as I go along.

A Social Media "Sabbatical"

How about if I let it all go for a while? What if I trusted my "audience" will still be there, even if I am not constantly trying to grab their attention? What if I gave myself a break? Remember when? Remember before social media when we went about our days without that constant buzz in the background?

Libraries aren't just for books!

The Lake Oswego Public Library organizes this annual, immersive program that encourages all members of the community to read the same book, discuss its message, and celebrate an atmosphere of learning amongst all age groups. Additionally, a small group of artists are invited to read the chosen book and create a piece inspired by it. This year the book is The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson.

The Seed Keeper

My inspiration and interpretation

©lesliepetersonsapp The Seed Keeper

Set in a pristine snowscape, a grove of trees is in the distance. A solitary set of footsteps lead into the empty expanse. A pictograph of a house, almost like a child’s drawing, is simultaneously an envelope, and hovers like a specter over the scene. In contrast, warm and earthy tones depict a cob of corn laying on the earth, seeds huddling in the soil, and a cornstalk reaching toward the sun.

She meets and marries a white farmer, John Meister when she is very young. John is a deeply flawed human being, who nevertheless is able provide Rosalee with a place of rest, security, and unconditional regard, even love. The scene in the book that created the most vivid visual image for me takes place early in their marriage. On a clear, cold day, she attempts to walk through deep snow to a grove of trees across a large field, but cannot manage it. John silently provides snow shoes for her. With dogged persistence, she is eventually able to reach the grove of trees. About this same moment in the narrative, in the pantry of John’s old, crumbling white farmhouse, Rosalie finds an envelope full of seeds that John’s mother had stashed many years before. In time, through trial and error, she learns how to grow a garden.

Her aunt Darlene presents Rosalie and her son with seeds and a tiny, wizened corncob, kept in a small pouch.

Creating an encaustic-like effect

A series on how film noir inspires my art- Final Entry!

©lesliepetersonsapp Miss Darger II 24x30

©lesliepetersonsapp The Knave of Swords 30x20

Similar to the myths and stories of old, the characters are driven by forces larger than themselves and are so very, very human. Often being brought down by their own drives and weaknesses, they are driven by a futile effort to cheat Fate. The themes are undying elements of what it is to be human. In the words of the Czar of Noir, Eddie Muller, film noir is "suffering with style".

By utilizing the elastic armature of the elements of film noir, I create art that is charged with longing, adventure, romance, and intrigue. I am able to expand and deepen my skills as a person and an artist, all the while having the time of my life.

©lesliepetersonsapp Circle Mirror 36x36

A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #9

Why is Shakespeare still so popular after all this time? It's because his stories and characters are timeless. There have been countless versions of his plays where the settings and characters’ identities are changed to bring new interpretations to the story presented. The characters in noir are as vivid and fundamental as an archetype. They are so solid they can be dressed up in any outer appearance and still resonate, still express the noir sensibility.

There are a profusion of examples of crime novels that star characters of many kinds, from the famous private eye Easy Rollins, to tough gay guy/investigator Dave Brandstetter.

©lesliepetersonsapp Bars 16x20

They don’t coyly refer to themselves as being "film noir" or use signifiers to make them seem like cultural artifacts.  There is no breaking down of the fourth wall. It is as if we could walk through the picture frame and become part of the action. If this could be possible, what would we see, and who would be there?

©lesliepetersonsapp Incognito 10x8

©lesliepetersonsapp The Hanged Man 32x18

It is easy for me to depict white, cis-gender women. It’s more of a stretch to depict scenes with people outside my personal lived experience. But the figures in my work and in my imagination sometimes take on a life of their own, and want to be expressed as they are: male, non-white, queer... To not follow these impulses would, in effect, be negating their existence. Whether I handle this successfully is a question I continually ask myself.

©lesliepetersonsapp Keys 40x48

A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #8

©lesliepetersonsapp Pursuit 24x48

In my artwork, the space can be complicated and sometimes difficult to navigate. The claustrophobic, multi-layered space illustrate the sometimes-turgid complexity of our minds and relationships. The identity of figures is often obscured, sometimes visually competing with shadows that seem more alive than they are.

©lesliepetersonsapp Search 48x40

The hall of mirrors scene, The Lady From Shanghai

Mirrors, doorways and windows proliferate, creating dazzling illusions, and act as apertures into other worlds. The dark, chiaroscuro lighting symbolizes obscured meanings and secrets withheld.

©lesliepetersonsapp Many a Moon 38x38

A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #7

©lesliepetersonsapp Vacancy 48x40

©lesliepetersonsapp Urgent 48x24

I, on the other hand, have developed a preference for a life of minimal drama. Life is too damn short to spend it with worry and strife. Yet, in much the same way someone may like a good war movie, yet has no desire to engage in combat, many of us achieve a certain catharsis by watching the sufferings of the glamorous figures in a film noir. My art is charged with longing, drama, sexual tension, taboos, and covert couplings. Like a private eye, snapping a picture through a window, we espy people in places they are not supposed to be, or with someone they ought not to be with.

As Phyllis and Walter said in this famous exchange in Double Indemnity: Phyllis: “We're both rotten.” Walter: “Only you're a little more rotten.”

Double Indemnity

A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #6

Night and the City

Placing that call (or hitting "send"). That second drink. Saying yes (or no). A scheme. A move. A journey. A purchase. How many times have our worser impulses lead us into misadventure?

©lesliepetersonsapp Backlight 38x48

A fatal attraction to the “bad boy” is the plight of many an otherwise prudent woman. Many are compelled to “fix” or heal a wounded man. The bad boy seems like a shiny, bright apple on the tree of life, just out of reach. Women tell themselves, “If only I could reach him, hold him, heal him. Then he would be mine.”

The simple fact is, in our society, men suffer from emotional isolation and alienation. This is no cakewalk, and should not be in any way romanticized. Yet, the figure of the bad boy, the homme fatale is as romantic as they come. There is a type of strength that we associate with the quiet suffering we associate with masculinity. The lonely man, isolated and aloof has great dramatic and sexual appeal.

©lesliepetersonsapp Look Out 30x24

©lesliepetersonsapp The Boxer 30x40

A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #5

First, let us examine the word Femme.⁠ Merriam-Webster:⁠ Femme: ⁠ 1. an adult female person⁠ 2. a lesbian who is notably or stereotypically feminine in appearance and manner⁠ ⁠Its French, you know? It comes from the French word for woman. Next, let us examine the word Fatale. ⁠ ⁠Another French word. It means "fatal”. Merriam-Webster:

©lesliepetersonsapp Queen of Diamonds 30x20

The Femme Fatale is like a fairy tale princess turned on its head. She is the anti-princess. Her nemesis.

The word “nemesis” is often used to refer to an arch enemy or polar opposite, or, as my friend Merriam-Webster sez, “a formidable and usually victorious rival or opponent”.

Classic film noir emerged during a time of immense social upheaval. Women had gone out into the working world during WWII, then were abruptly required to get back to the home and be nice. The Femme Fatale was an expression of this anxiety, an attempt to vilify powerful women and shame them back into the kitchen.

Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity

Gloria Grahame in The Big Heat

Though she is usually regarded as a destructive force of evil, in actuality she is often portrayed with layers of nuance- if you care to look. It is often clear that she is a woman who doesn’t have a lot of choices. She is trying to flip a bad situation to her advantage, perhaps turning the tables of power back on the men who use and control her. For me, the Femme Fatale is often infused with a tragic quality: a resourceful gal, just trying to make the best from a bad hand dealt.

In the course of my personal maturity, I am finding my way to a healthier embodiment of power. It has taken most of my adult life to build up some understanding of how to be an entrepreneur, which is essentially what a professional artist is. I’ve had a lot of catching up to do.

©lesliepetersonsapp Blue Room 40x40

A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #4

Italian travel poster, Mario Puppo, 1948

Italian travel poster, Mario Puppo, 1941

Blind Minotaur Led through the Night by Girl with Fluttering Dove, Picasso, 1935

The Little Fish, Max Beckmann, 1933

Charles Sheeler, Canyons, 1951

©lesliepetersonsapp Glass Houses 30x28

A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #3

an art movement that started at the turn of the 20th century, and encompassed painting, theater, music, literature, and the brand-new medium of film. It sought to express emotion and subjective experience by using symbolism, exaggeration, and distortion. In painting, the elements of design were used to support a narrative.

"M" 1931 Fritz Lang

"The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" 1920

In cinematography, the techniques used included deep focus, extreme camera angles, dramatic lighting shone from raked angles, and chiaroscuro (which is a painterly technique developed during the Renaissance where use of deep variations of light and dark is used to enhance mood and create dramatic effect).

I consider the masters of film noir my teachers as well as my inspiration. By studying their cinematographic virtuosity, I have become a better narrative painter. Because the noir aesthetic is so specific, I am obliged to narrow my focus and deepen my decisions, which has honed my skills.

"Crossfire" 1947

©lesliepetersonsapp Lamplight 40x48

©lesliepetersonsapp Exit 28x18