Legend of Oldies 2

"Afro Beats Legend"

120 x 82 cm. Acrylic on Canvas.

This second piece on Legend of the Oldies, reflection on the image of past heroes of Nigeria music industry is a visual composition of the late Afro beat legend 'Abami Eda (Strange Creature)', Fela Anikulapo Ransome Kuti.

A life lived in spiritual, emotional and physical struggle that culminated in a sudden struggled departure from mother-earth.

The music legacy he left in this part of the universe is still relevant today as the struggle for peace continues...

 

Reflection from the hearts - Apple of my Eyes

Title: Apple of my eyes (Virtuosity)

Medium: Ballpoint Pen on paper

Size: 30.5 x 42cm.

Woman of virtue!

Give her the opportunity of fruitfulness... see her at that state of unflinching truthfulness.

Fashionably Ancient and Modern Studio Extension

 The weather was calm and cool and I couldn't resist extending my studio to the back of the living quarters. You can't compare the natural light outside with the subdued one inside the studio created with artificial light. I do hope these excite some curiosity or memory of some sort. Enjoy the ride.

Fashionably Ancient and Modern,

Acrylic on Canvas 39" x 29". 2020

Ball-point Pen Drawings - In the beginning

The journey of a lifetime always starts from somewhere. Its like the day a new life is born physically or spiritually and most importantly a creative endeavor, more like the beginning of my ball-point pen drawings.

It all started in 8th of July 1993 precisely. I needed to create sketches for a flute player and just picked up the available pen with me then. The result was astounding... prompted more research and practice that has never stopped challenging the unending possibility of a masterpiece. I kept on exploring the fluidity of the different types of brand of ball-point pen and papers available. The search continues. ho[e to post some of the early drawings in the nearest future. below are the drawings from a 1993 sketch pad

On the Easel - Mother and Child (Fashionable)

Fashionably Ancient & Modern,
Acrylic on Canvas 39" x 29"

Took time to really conclude on this piece.

I was attracted to the strong contrasting light on the mother compared to the shade around the daughter. And found myself undecided on whether to treat the full figures of the models or taper it down to the bare necessities the work requires from expressionistic approach.

Looking forward to a fulfilling painting escapade. Thank you for being there always.

Legendary Blind Minstrel

'Kokoro’ the Blind Minstrel
Acrylic on canvas, 75 x 100cm

                                            

'Kokoro, the Blind Minstrel'
Acrylic on Canvas. 39" x 29"

Red ball-point pen Drawing Series 1

                                            

Quite challenging motif dedicated to late Benjamin Aderounmu popularly known as 'Kokoro'.

Below is a brief biography of the legendary one-man band musician:

Benjamin ‘Kokoro’ Aderounmu (25 February 1925 – 25 January 2009) was a widely known blind minstrel from Lagos, Nigeria. He was born into a royal family in Owo, Ondo State, and became blind when he was aged ten. He developed a unique style of singing accompanied first by a drum, later by a tambourine. He moved to Lagos in 1947, where he became exposed to major local musicians such as Ayinde Bakare, Bobby Benson and Victor Olaiya.

In the 1960s and 1970s he featured regularly on Federal and local radio stations, and was widely respected for the depth and wisdom of his lyrics. An early pioneer of Jùjú music, he sang in Yoruba about love, money, conflicts and urban decadence. He had wide influence on other musicians.

The author Cyprian Ekwensi wrote a fictionalized version of his life in his novel for adolescents, The Drummer Boy. He performed in many cities in Nigeria and overseas. Kokoro died shortly before the planned release of his album titled Igi Araba.

                                                    Thanks for being there always.

Watch Over Me (Ball-point Pen Drawing)

Title:        Soul Tie.
Medium: Ball-point pen on paper.
Size:         41.9 x 59.4 cm.
Year:        2020.

Bond between growing siblings could be so deep. Especially when the parents are delayed one way or the other in their engagement and keep out so long and the wards are becoming apprehensive of their absence.

Childhood memoir (Triptych Miniature)

"Village Stream" Acrylic on Canvas, 25 x 129 cm

" Stream Chores "(Left Panel, 25 x 43 cm)

" Fish Net " (Center Panel, 25 x 43 cm)

" Setting Out " (Right Panel, 25 x 43 cm)

Yuletide holidays in the village was usually a time of exploration of life outside the city. one of the most cherished times is visitation to the village stream at sunrise. Then you have the privillege of the day's morning bath as you swim until the eyes turn red. Wonderful encounters indeed

Dedication to Mothers

I have seen mothers' emotional attachment to their children of various age group at this universal trying times and I am short of words to describe the burden of uncertain future that we are forced to embrace all over the world.

Nobody knows tomorrow. Let us endeavour to enjoy every opportunity that we have to relate with each other while the moment lasts. We shall survive and live to tell the story in the not too distant tomorrow.

This painting is dedicated to all caring mothers. I do hope you share my feelings in this.

Title:        "Dear Mother".
Medium: Acrylic on canvas.
Size:         98 x 74 cm.
Year:        2020

My Mother by Ann Taylor.
(Very deep nursery rhyme for the ancient and modern)

Who fed me from her gentle breast,
And hushed me in her arms to rest,
And on my cheek sweet kisses prest?
My Mother.

When sleep forsook my open eye,
Who was it sung sweet hushaby,
And rocked me that I should not cry?
My Mother.

Who sat and watched my infant head,
When sleeping on my cradle bed,
And tears of sweet affection shed?
My Mother.

When pain and sickness made me cry,
Who gazed upon my heavy eye,
And wept for fear that I should die?
My Mother.

Who dressed my doll in clothes so gay,
And fondly taught me how to play,
And minded all I had to say?
My Mother.

Who ran to help me when I fell,
And would pretty story tell,
Or kiss the place to make it well?
My Mother.

Who taught my infant lips to pray,
And love God's holy book and day,
And walk in wisdom's pleasant way?
My Mother.

And can I ever cease to be
Affectionate and kind to thee,
Who was so very kind to me,
My Mother.

Ah no! the thought I cannot bear,
And if God please my life to spare,
I hope I shall reward thy care,
My Mother.

When thou art feeble, old, and grey,
My healthy arm shall be thy stay,
And I will soothe thy pains away,
My Mother.

And when I see thee hang thy head,
'Twill be my turn to watch thy bed,
And tears of sweet affection shed,
My Mother.

For could our Father in the skies
Look down with pleased or loving eyes,
If ever I could dare despise
My Mother?

NB. Comments & Criticism allowed.

In a lighter mood: Afro Beats Legend - Fela Anikulapo

Title:        Afro Beat Legend (Abami-eda)
Medium: Ball-point pen on paper.
Size:         41.9 x 59.4cm.
Year:        2020.

Tribute to an African Saxophone Legend in his own right.

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was a tornado of a man, but he loved humanity.
He was meant to be a doctor, an upstanding member of Nigeria's elite like his father, an Anglican pastor who had founded the Nigeria Union of Teachers, and his mother, an aristocrat, nationalist and fiery feminist who had won the Lenin peace prize. His two brothers were already committed to the medical profession to which he was likewise promised. At 20 he would study in England, where his first cousin, Wole Soyinka, was already making waves as a literary lion.

Instead, Fela Ransome-Kuti became infamous, an outlaw musician who declared himself president of his own "Kalakuta Republic", a sprawling compound in the suburbs of Lagos that housed his recording studio and offered sanctuary to the dispossessed. At his club, the Shrine, his band played until dawn while dozens of singers and dancers writhed and glittered amid drifts of igbo smoke. Here, Nigeria's corrupt dictators were denounced and ancient Yoruban deities honoured, all to a relentless backdrop of the "Afrobeat" that Fela had distilled from the musical collision of Africa and black America.

His music and outspokenenness made Fela a hero to Africa's poor, but he would pay a high price for his insurrectionary micro-republic, which was repeatedly raided, and he and his followers would be arrested and beaten. In early 1977, the military junta had had enough – Fela's record Zombie, mocking the army's do-as-you're-told mentality, may have been the tipping point for head of state General Obasanjo, who had once been in the same primary school class as Fela. A thousand soldiers overwhelmed Kalakuta, brutalising and raping as they went, then razing the compound to the ground. Fela was beaten close to death, and his elderly mother thrown from an upstairs window, afterwards dying of her injuries.

Fela defiantly established a short-lived political party and continued to spar with the authorities. "ITT (International Thief Thief)", for example, deplored the exploitation of Africa by multinationals. Increasingly, he carried his music and message to an international audience, though the west's media acclaim was never matched by record sales or stadium concerts. Tours that entailed a 50-strong entourage and albums of 20-minute songs didn't help. Nor did his imprisonment for two years on trumped-up currency charges on the eve of a 1984 world tour. Later still, Fela became a student of the spirit, only leaving home to play twice a week at the Shrine.

At his death from an Aids-related illness at the age of 58 in 1997 Fela left behind seven children, 50-odd albums and a musical legacy that has been kept fiercely alive by his sons Femi and Seun, and by his erstwhile drummer Tony Allen. Belatedly, Afrobeat has become a cause célèbre among young European and American music fans.

(Extracted from Sun Newspaper, 31 Oct 2010).

White Handkerchief

"Betrothed" 68.5 x 152.5 cm Acrylic on Canvas. 2020

The painting is first of Daughters of Eve Series. Impressionistic stylization of the female figure with head silhouette in colours. 

Virginity of a maiden yet to be married is a unique aspect of the marriage institution among the Yoruba of Western Nigeria. It used to be a respected intimate part of conjugal union between a bride and groom.
Until recent times, when the groom returns to the bride's parents a day after the  wedding with a white handkerchief stained with the outcome of the couple’s first night together after their marriage, as a sign of appreciation that their daughter has not failed them in keeping her maiden's flower intact before marriage, they wouldn't mind the cost of celebrating the wedding again with family and friends.

This painting is a dialogue on such a scenario. Here the deed is done and the elders waiting to hear from the husband study the symbol while the bride is still basking in the euphoria of her recent encounter.
Very few family still observe the tradition today, lots of subjective challenges and peer pressure on growing adults in the society has overtaken the importance of chastity. It has become every man for himself. Life goes on whichever way it turns.

Thanks for viewing, criticism and comments are welcome.

Pursuit

"Pursuit" Acrylic on Canvas.  74 x 98 cm. 2020 

The horses broke loose and took to the wild. A reflection of the desire to be free from shackles of bondage. Equine is known for strength and stability... The Holy Bible has this to say about the horse in the book of Job 39:20-25 (Good News Bible)
Job 39:20  Did you make them leap like locusts and frighten people with their snorting? 

Job 39:21  They eagerly paw the ground in the valley; they rush into battle with all their strength. 

Job 39:22  They do not know the meaning of fear, and no sword can turn them back. 
Job 39:23  The weapons which their riders carry rattle and flash in the sun. 
Job 39:24  Trembling with excitement, the horses race ahead; when the trumpet blows, they can't stand still. 
Job 39:25  At each blast of the trumpet they snort; they can smell a battle before they get near, and they hear the officers shouting commands. 

Quite Symbolic of a real man, someone with the determination to make headway whatever cost is required without looking back... irrespective of gender.

Miniature Paintings from Archives

Below are miniature paintings from personal private collections

Acrylic paintings rendered without colour white as tint.

Size ranges from 7" x 9" to 11" X 14" On canvas board.

Eso irun didi

Flutist

Snookers

Here and there

Painterly efforts continue with 'Jubilation'. Women, in their unique group could be very unpredictable when excited. Acrylic on canvas.

'Jubilation' Acrylic  on Canvas, 104 x 80 cm. 2020

Womenfolks' Acrylic  on Canvas, 74 x 98 cm. 2020

  

Equine Digital Painting

It's been a wonderful encounter working with Photoshop digital software. The Horse as a model with the graceful poise has always been a fascinating subject for exploration. The following images are created with emphasis on strong highlight pitched against shades of colours in the shadow.

Images are available in High resolution for interested collectors.

Contact email: seyiajayistudios@gmail.com

' Goldie Portraiture ' 16" x 24", Digital Painting 2020.

'Duo Grazing I' 20" x 24", Digital Painting 2020.

'Grazing II' 18" x 24", Digital Painting 2020.

Vintage Portraiture

It's Grandma's birthday, 14th February, and everyone is saddled with

the responsibility of making it a memorable one.

She, probably might not remember or recognize the image that was selected

for this piece of Artwork, separated as her special Birthday Gift.

Time tells.

"Good Old Days" Acrylic on Canvas, 46 x 61 cm. 2020

Recent Ball-point Pen Drawings

Great folks!
God bless you more for being there always.
My apologies for absence from blogging these past months, a lot has being unfolding behind the scene. Glory be to God for the blessed, wonderful, encounters.

Below are some of the drawings I was able to put together:

1. "Love-Birds"

" Love Birds ", Ball-point Pen on Paper, 24.5 x 37 cm. 2020.

Commissioned Portraiture in Ball-point pen on paper. the rendering took about 96 hours before it was ready for ink-print. Quite a rewarding encounter!

2. "WOMENFOLKS"

" Womenfolk: Dialogue behind the walls" Ball-point Pen on Paper. 50 x 70cm. 2019.

 

The theme is a dialogue on one interesting aspect of the ideals of African womenfolk. Average African woman finds it convenient to either gist or argue each other out over feminine issues as she goes about the daily household chores that involves others within or outside her immediate family.


3. "LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER"

" Like mother, like Daughter", Ball-point Pen on Paper, 24.5 x 37 cm. 2019.

A chronicle of feminine seed transfer from mother to daughter.

Daughter has her secrets... the mother has hers, which would not be divulged to anyone... 

yet she insists on knowing what is behind the daughter's veil.

Quite generational!

Thanks for being there always great folks.

Regards.