Icons and Idols, Images and Quotes

Cameron Bentley studied Fine Art with a Music minor at Cabrillo College, Santa Cruz. Paintings from his Iconic Celebrity series are featured in the book, 'Marilyin in Art' and have been displayed in galleries on the West Coast as well as here in Nashville. Doors member Robbie Krieger played with a Jim Morrison painting created for him on stage.

A member of the multi-talented Mellencamp family, his work is strongly influenced by his cousin, John Cougar Mellencamp and John's mother Marilyn, who's paints and brushes he uses to create many of his paintings. His 'Icons' reflect both his heritage and the enormous influence of music in his life. His Mandlecrux series, also in progress, reflects the center of life and creation; the heart of the mandella.

The White Stripes

"I really don't like to take the easy way out, if I can help it, in anything I do."

"I'm interested in ideas that will shake us all up." 

 - Jack White

Jim Morrison

"The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are."

“I can make the earth stop in its tracks."

Warhol vs. Basquiat

“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”

“Sometimes the little times you don't think are anything while they're happening turn out to be what marks a whole period of your life.”

- Andy Warhol

"Most young kings get their heads cut off."

- Jean Michael Basquiat

Marlene Dietrich

"If there is a supreme being, he's crazy."

"Darling, the legs aren't so beautiful, I just know what to do with them."

"I am not a myth."

Elvis Presley 

"When things go wrong, don't go wrong with them."

"If you let your head get too big, it'll break your neck."

"Sad thing is, you can love someone and still be wrong for them."

John Cougar Mellencamp 

"I do things my way and I pay a high price."

"You've gotta stand for something or you're gonna fall for anything."  

More art by Cameron Bentley: HERE

Photography of Julia Margaret Cameron

Today is the anniversary of Virginia Woolfe's death and, as I was reading about her, I discovered her amazing Aunt, Julia Margaret Cameron. Some of her photography:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frances Hodgeson Burnett

Alfred Lord Tennyson

 

 

 

Top Twitter Bio's for March

In no particular order - they're all awesome.

Your Host Tweeting

http://www.twitter.com/lonesomeliz

Carlos Ramos ‏ @TheCarlosRamos

I paint, draw, write, tell jokes and want you to stalk me.. 

PeterBeater ‏ @petebeat

I was thinking about maybe changing my bio. 

James Gunn ‏ Verified account @JamesGunn

I like people to know when I'm drinking coffee, so I joined Twitter. 

Noah Bradley ‏ @noahbradley

Artist. Not the unemployed kind. 

J.W. Faria ‏ @JW_Faria

I'm fly.

Star St.Germain ‏ @thisisstar

A tornado disguised as a girl. 

#5 yosi sergant ‏ @a35mmlife

I am the change I have been waiting for. 

T.J. Huffman ‏ @TPlayboy Protected account

Bio

Katy Gwizdala ‏ @katygwizdala

Disappointing both of us. 

Mike ‏ @JustLikeMikee

Free Thinker. All answers questioned here.

Lola Calabro ‏ @lolacalabro

Thank God I'm a hot chick with superpowers. 

Sean Bonner ‏ @seanbonner

Misanthropologist.

Morgan Spurlock ‏ Verified account @MorganSpurlock

I like fancy book learnin'.

Travis ‏ @trav_o

My life is based on a true story.

Thomas. ‏ @thomasleveritt

Shakes head.

Sasha Frere-Jones ‏ Verified account @sfj

Please wait for the next representative.

Charlotte Shane ‏ @CharlotteNB

Known Prostitute, Lesser-Known Writer.

AmandaWhip ‏ @AmandaWhip

Fuck You.

Rocco Castoro ‏ @rocco_castoro

Everything below is made up.

Neil Strauss ‏ @neilstrauss

Born, currently living, will die.

Matthew Borgatti ‏ @GiantEye

I make things and I make things awesome. 

Paul LaTour ‏ @platour68

I write, but mostly I lay around and imagine I am a writer. I watch a lot of TV. Oh, and I cover the Chicago Wolves of the AHL for the Chicago Tribune.

Paul Booth ‏ @PaulBoothTattoo

But you have my stapler. 

Daniel Dalton ‏ @wordsbydan

Not drunk enough to write well. This is the best I can do sober. 

The Nashvillian ‏ @TheNashvillian

What I say goes, Nashville.

Bob Wayne ‏ Verified account @outlawcarnies

Spread my ashes on the highway, after I'm dead and gone...

Wickedwordslinger ‏ @StephenBCramer

I took my crazy neighbor's name since he doesn't do internet and won't know. I am here for the laughs and my wife @aprilsmist is my partner in crime and life.

Stewie Pickle Egg ‏ @StewiesBrain

I am GidgetWidget's Cat. Sam Jackson melted me in a movie. See??? -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlsFeT4FyVw 

Dion R Boles ‏ @Hot_Rod79

May not be Prince, but I'm pauper with potential.

katiewest ‏ @katiewest

I take pictures, sometimes. And am super interesting, always. 

Michelle ‏ @RageMichelle

I am the white, overweight, short, female Samuel L. Jackson of Twitter. Also, I don't act and I'm not famous or rich.

Ryan Bateman ‏ @rpbateman

I'm just a guy who'd rather talk to the internet instead of real people.

Tony Quintiliani ‏ @RevTonyQ

Sometimes when I drink I get mean. When I get mean I insult people. When I insult people I do it online. When I do it online I want followers. And Twitter

 Alex Pardee ‏ @alexpardee

I attempt more things than physically possible. Like invisibility. And I try to draw a lot. Sometimes its better than others.

Your Blog Host is Having an Outlaw Art Contest!

Enter the LL Art Contest now through April Fools Day. EVERYONE who enters will get a signed copy of their own drawing + the winning one.

The prizes are:

FIRST PLACE: I'll write a song for you on a theme of your choosing  + come to the Lonesome Liz show of your choice and drink a shot of whiskey with me on me, (if I'm not playing in your area I'll send you a shot of whiskey + make a video of your favorite song, (original or cover).

SECOND PLACE: Come to the Lonesome Liz show of your choice and drink a shot of whiskey with me on me :) If I'm not in your area, I'll send you a shot of whiskey and make a video of your favorite song, (original or cover).

THIRD PLACE:  Three shots of whiskey in bottles painted by me. (See examples of my bottle art here: http://lonesomelizpage.blogspot.com).

Join my Facebook page if you're not already there for photos to base your work on. http://www.facebook.com/lonesomeliz Entries can be alterations of photographs, drawings, collages... anything you like!

Submit entries via Facebook or email to: elizabeth.bissette@gmail.com Winners will be announced on April Fool's Day.

The fan art that inspired the idea:

By Charles ODonnavan

By Tony Martinez

By Orville Dunworth

More LL in art:

By Lana Gentry

As 'Faust' by Katelan Foisy

As a cartoon by James Hislope

Marilyn Mellencamp's Fine Art Legacy

I was told this afternoon that it is the one year anniversary of Marilyn Mellencamp's death and am sad that I did not have the opportunity to know her, as I have had the remarkable opportunity to come to know some of her beautiful and talented family. A feature, which includes a look at the visual art of her son, John Cougar Mellencamp as well as of Cameron Bentley, (who has inherited both her talent and her paint), is coming soon to 'Fine Art Magazine' but I wanted to both share some of her work with you and begin to introduce you to her family in hopes of making a dim day brighter. From what I have come to know, she seems to have gone through life making days like that.

Marilyn Mellencamp

by Cameron Bentley

Some of her art:

Man in a Red Shirt

by John Cougar Mellencamp

The Next Generation of Mellencamp Artists With Marilyn's Paint:

Stay tuned for more in Fine Art Magazine.

For more info re art by Cameron Bentley, contact Eric Mellencamp on Facebook.

An Inauguration Day Defense of President Jefferson, In His Own Words

As a Virginian descended from the mind behind the Constitution and a former employee of Obama's Chicago law firm, where I daily participated in the defense of it, I was sad to see Jefferson dismissed at today's inauguration. I hope that, upon reading some of what he said and thought, you'll be sad about that too:

I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.  

I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country. 

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.  

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies

Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear. 

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.   

A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference. 

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty. 

Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual. 

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. 

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.  

It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. 

I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance.

I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too. 

Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.  

Fine Art: Ella Darr and Jonathan Wagner

J.P. Wagner Fine Art

Gallery 532
532 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10011
www.jonathanpaulwagner.com

Gallery Hours: 12pm – 9pm daily

Ella Darr & Jonathan Wagner
Sunday, Jan 20 – Monday, Jan 21
An opening reception will be held on Thursday, May 22 at 7pm.

Gallery 532 is pleased to present an exhibition of lithographs and paintings by New York artists Jonathan Wagner and Israeli born Photographer/model Ella Darr. The collection taps into the psyche, exposing the depth of human emotion that lurks beneath the surface. Working with contrast, each artist uniquely exploits boundaries few dare to cross. Wagner and Darr bring into focus the dark horrors of loss, the ecstasy of passion and the continuum of expression that exists between. Each collection portrays, through enigmatic faces, a fall from grace and the pure, unbridled joy of renewal.

Jonathan Wagner throws his creative weight into the art of detail. Through the minutia of physical expression, he demonstrates his insights into the vulnerabilities of his subjects. Delving into genres ranging from pop art to expressionism, Wagner is at home in the intensely personal, often only visible in an ephemeral glance. Wagner currently resides in Hackensack, New Jersey and is the Founder of IST Art Group. He recently presented "Psychology, It's More Than You Think," a touring solo exhibition sponsored by the American Psychological Organization and appeared in the Internationalist’s “Seven Deadly Sins” in January. Wagner earned his BFA at Virginal Commonwealth University, School of the Arts.

Israeli born photographer, Ella Darr, channels her vibrant, yet deeply tragic past to create works that challenge conventional notions of her collective experience. 

This retrospective of her last decade of work chronicles her personal and artistic journey,. Darr, injects herself into her paintings, conjuring not only her subjects, but herself, an artist, a model, and a member of fashion’s elite. Darr lives and works in New York City.  

O Death - Twistacana on Tour

O Death by Katelan Foisy

Their influences range from Ralph Stanley to the Misfits and the result is an unpredictable Punk raw meets Southern Gothic dark sound. Members Bob Pycior, Gabe Darling, Greg Jamie, David Rogers-Berry, Jesse Newman, Tristan Palozola and Dan Sager attracted attracted the attention of New York's Ernest Jenning Record Co. in 2007 and their album, Head Home was released that summer, both in the US and abroad. In 2008, Gigantic Music released a new 7" of their pared down to near Dada tunes and they have also been part of Vincent Moon's The Take-Away Shows as well as a Ukulele project with the Belgian newspaper, Le Soir.  

Though familiar with O Death for some time via Katelan Foisy, who has created some amazing art pieces for them, including the one above, (and who also painted me as 'Faust' for the Mojo Sideshow), it wasn't until a few years later, when working on the new Sideshow's General John Bell Hood tune, that I really felt connected to the music. Aaron Vegas was with me as I wrote it and, when I finished he said, "Oh man, you've got to hear O Death, it kind of reminds me of that." I said that was an odd coincidence since we had the pleasure of the same portrait artist and began to pay more attention to the unique sound. 

Katelan's painting of me from the Mojo Sideshow

"Listening to them makes me feel like I just wandered into an old saloon inhabited by lost souls and they're all sitting around drinking their sorrows away." Said Aaron, (Yellowberri PM). "The dirge-like qualities, combined with unorthodox percussion becomes very haunting as you listen to it." 

Katelan, who was first commissioned to do a portrait for the 2008 press packet for their album, Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skins, says of their music in her Coilhouse interview: 

"It pulls the listener into a world between waking and dreaming. I remember thinking there was something incredibly special about them; it wasn't just that they had taken parts of old time Appalachia and made it contemporary, it was that they could make you feel you were part of the story...

"Hearing an O'Death song is like falling into a small book of short stories told in a cave by a fire, on a ship during a storm, in a pub on the streets of England or while hidden away in a swampland cabin. Their music transcends time." 

The bands drummer, David Rogers-Barry, was diagnosed with cancer while their most recent album, Outside was being recorded.  Instead of halting the project, the band instead finished it in fragments and the resultant music has, does each album actually, it's own, very distinct tone somewhat apart from the others.  Theirs is not a static but rather an evolving, morphing sound.

There are 2 more weeks left of their current tour: http://www.facebook.com/events/470286043013174/ Go see them if you have the chance. If you do, I think you'll find it's not just a concert but an immersive, hypnotic experience.

AND you can buy one of these super cool new shirts of death, (marvelously displayed here by Katelan) if you're at one of the shows, (available online at the end of the month via: http://www.bluecollardistro.com/odeath/categories.php?cPath=787).

 Visit the O'Death website: http://www.odeath.net/

A Few of the Musicians I am Thankful For

Chris Calloway Brooks and his new Cab Calloway Orchestra

Mike Seeger

Wes Freed

Brian Mitchell, (Mojo Mancini (here), Levon Helm Band, 

Just About Everyone Else You've Ever Heard of

Levon Helm, his amazing band and their friend, the Ghost of Jesse James

Mitchell Plumlee, (here with yours truly)

Aaron Jonah Lewis

 

Bert Garvin

Jack Montgomery, (his adaptation of 'Cold Rain and Snow' with yours truly)

Pat Haney

Shooter Jennings

Kara Clark

Polly Punkneck

Greta Brinkman, (L7 (here), Blondie, Moby

Thomas Barnett (and his Greta Brinkman tune)

Johnny Thompson

Eerie Von

Michael O'Neill

Brigitte London