ART EXHIBITION

Carolyn Presley

Music composed and produced by Steffen Presley

Art squares 1 Art squares 1

1979 - 2019

I. PAINTINGS       II. BALLET       III. CARTOONS

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Carolyn Presley

Please check out Carloyn's new website at ToonCritters.com featuring her new career as a children's book illustrator.

Inspired by album cover artwork and adult comic books by Santana Abraxis, I realized my dream to become an artist and left behind a corporate career in SF for the lure of the art scene in Los Angeles, where hand painted billboards lined the sunset strip and murals abundant throughout the city.

I was captivated by airbrushing, which was finally being recognized as a legitimate artist tool, after decades of being banned. I learned about development thru production of commercial art by working in advertising & manufacturing and discovered the science of color and light reflection in the process.

Within the first year I achieved two major projects: illustrating a children's book, Purple Boy, and my first mural for the LA landmark and Hollywood star hot spot, Kelbo's Hawaiian Restaurant. I chose silhouettes to illustrate the multiple figures and party settings the owner wanted to convey to keep it from feeling too crowded. The first challenge of transferring the complex composition within the 106-foot long canvas, was achieved by applying blue chalk grids to the wall (1' to 1" scale) and painting the character's by the squares. The bumpy stucco was a surprise challenge; in order to keep nice clean lines they had to be painted by going over the lines with white paint, then black paint. My next goal, to create Album (CD) Cover artwork began. This experience led to the branding and artwork for a series of Ballet for Music Lovers CD packaging over the next decade. It was a perfect combination of my love of art, music and dance. The key design requirement by the client is that I illustrate one dancer for each volume. Having just completed volume 9, we always ask ourselves "how many more dancers can we fit in that piano frame?"

I hope you enjoy this Art Exhibition of my favorite pieces created over the last 4 decades. Time flies when you're having fun. As one chapter closes, another is opening! -- Carolyn Presley

Special Thanks to my loving husband, Steffen Presley, for his unwavering support and inspiration and to our son, Skylar Presley (aka Sky the Magic Guy) for challenging me with his concepts and keen art direction on his projects, and to LaVon Smith for making my transformation to artist possible! Also thank you to Tom & June Kelley for believing in a young artist and trusting me to paint a mural on their restaurant walls, and to Sean Tiwanak and Yoshi & Doug Gurwell allowing me artistic license to spread my wings on their CD projects.

Music Composed and Produced by Steffen Presley
I. Paintings - Moonrise at the Crack of Dawn; Saxy Funk
II. Ballet - A Ride in the Park; Around the Corner; Heaven Knows
III. Cartoons - Sky River; Cosmic Caravan; Piano Break

All Compositions ©2019 Steffen Presley, Terraform Records
All Artwork ©2019 Carolyn Presley.
All Rights Reserved.


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