Tundra Swans at Middle Creek

• 
• pastel by Chris Ludke

Because I can’t keep up with the demand for my work around here, I pulled this drawing out of my flat files. I did this years ago and never framed it.  So this is the first time it’s seen in public. I haven’t looked at it for a long time. I still like it, and ordered a frame.

 When I started drawing in plein air, I went up to “the project” which is what the local people call Middle Creek wildlife preserve. In the 1970s the govt. took a lot of farm land attached to the state game lands. They dammed a stream and made a lake. They plant fields with grain for the migrating birds. And they limit your access to it. It’s really beautiful up there in the PA. foothills close to my home town Ephrata. Now they get huge flocks of migrating birds.  When the snow geese are there, they look like snow on the ground because there’s thousands of them. When they take flight, they are as loud as a tractor. Bird watchers come from all states.

Cleopatra

 

marble sculpture by William Story

This is my favorite sculpture at the VMFA. I stood in front of her for hours and drew her twice already. The carving is great. You should see her in person. The dress looks like actual fabric. I saw the Cleopatra exhibit at the Franklin Inatitute in Philadelphia a while back. The archaeologists are close to finding her tomb ! And when they dig her up it will be bigger than King Tut !

 

Bianca No. 2

Does this look like a fart joke to you ?

This sculpture has me smiling every time I walk into the VMFA.  I don’t see any context for her to be lifting one butt cheek. I don’t know what the artist would say, but I bet he laughed the whole time he was working on it.

My Muse…Masr…Cairo

"Baladi Woman in Cairo"

 “Bint Baladi”…or Beledi…just a Country Girl at heart in the big city…

Again and again the beauty and splendour of the Middle East draws me in. 

I see beauty in Cairo. The hustle and bustle of the traffic. The music everywhere…in the taxis, from the apartments, radios, CD players…everything adds to the swing and sway of the city.

The time I spent there was magical.

My visits inspired the work.  The digital collage  incorporates found objects and drawings.

Forever my Muse…Cairo is my heart.

Belly Dance, Raqs Sharqi…the Muse embraces the Dance & the Dancer!

Conventional Drawing & Digital Collage for the Egyptian Moon Dance Company

My passion is the Arts…the visual and the performing.  Am I an illustrator who dances or a Dancer who illustrates?

For me, both art forms blend seamlessly…one embracing the other.

The collage is a combination of found objects, calligraphy, conventional drawing.

The work was produced for The Egyptian Moon Dance Company.

I dance Egyptian Raqs Sharqi, the dance also known as Belly Dance. Egyptian Dance is “the Heart of Belly Dance”™

For me, expression through the Arts is a powerful force in my life. I allow my Muse to guide me.

 

 

Inspiration from Nature…

Inspiration for the drawing ” La Riviere” by Chris LudkeThe final drawing: Pastel, Mixed media, Collage by Chris Ludke

La Riviere

Pastel Image 14″ x 17″

My model is La Riviere by Maillol in the sculpture garden at the VMFA.

For the background I went down to the James River at Belle Isle to do a study of the rapids and pick the colors for the water.

I did my underdrawing for the figure in dark reds to warm her up, because she’s made of dark grey lead. And I made the highlights on the figure with greyish blue. I think these colors make her look like she’s in the water with some white foam splashing up on her.

“Why Girls Go Wild?” Ask the Muse…

“Why Girls Go Wild!” by Shelby Pizzarro

A conventional collage of found objects and vintage photographs.

A Valentine is not always red.

Inspiration comes in many forms…when the Muse speaks…listen…

“Beauty from India” by Chris Ludke

Drawing, Collage, Mixed Media

Beauty From India

Collage Image 15″ x 21″

My model is a terra cotta figure at the VMFA. Her nose is broken and her feet are missing. I fixed her with art.

The marble pavillion is also at the VMFA.

They have a gallery with a lot of scenes with figures from India painted in opaque watercolor. A lot of them are on a floral border. I studied the style and made up this border.

The plaque says she came off a temple and there was originally a goose with her drinking the water she’s wringing out of her hair. I decided to make a swan.

This picture must be exceptional, by the reaction I got from the first juror that saw it.