Although the gathering takes place on-line, The Zodiac Cafe has truly become a powerhouse with the arrival of Leo, the king of beasts. Here are the typical Leo characteristics, as described by Manly P. Hall from his esoteric sources:
"Face broad and somewhat flat, hair wavy and usually light, inclined to frontal baldness; mouth firm; eyes commanding; shoulders broad; body well-formed."
My paintings in this series have been alternating male and female subjects. With a female Leo in mind, I decided to give the wavy hair more prominence than the frontal baldness. I leafed through my life drawing sketches and thought I'd found a promising subject -- so I invited her to an audition at the Cardboard Club.
Alas! Another false start. But that Leo head of hair reminded me of a vintage photo I'd saved from some art link or another. How's this for a mighty Leo gal?
Do be sure and read about this woman -- Alma deBretteville Spreckels. Some of her claims to fame:-- Six feet tall; art student-nude model; possible originator of the term "sugar daddy" applied to her wealthy husband, 24 years her senior, who eventually made her a well-regarded socialite-philanthropist in early 20th century San Francisco.
I was longing to try out my new birthday sketchbook -- with its silvery-charcoal cover, dove-grey pages, and red ribbon place marker -- so I gave "Big Alma" a try:
Oh, no.... as I scrawled at the bottom of the page:--
All right. Let's try again -- she, too, deserved a Cardboard Club audition.
Yikes! This one looked uncomfortably like Melania Trump.
The choice was clear: Abandon ship or full steam ahead. Leos are not quitters, and in that spirit, I proceeded directly to my canvas and whipped off this underlayer. ("Whipped off" as in ....worked for about 5 hours)
And here's the final version, "Zodiac Cafe - Leo" (copyright 2020).
Are you longing to know how Leo appeared in my "Astrological Plants" series of a decade ago? Not surprisingly, the types of plants assigned to Leo are radiant sun-like discs -- since the Sun can be loosely described as Leo's "planet." Think sunflowers. Think dandelions.
Hmmm. I'd never stopped to wonder where that Dandy Lion name originated and here's what I found:
"Late Middle English: from French dent-de-lion, translation of medieval Latin dens leonis 'lion's tooth' (because of the jagged shape of the leaves)."
But for my Astro Plants painting, I chose not the dandelion but another wild plant that's often mistaken for it -- Hypochaeris radicata -- commonly known as "Hairy Cat's Paw" !!
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