Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The classic rock artist

East county painter captures the essence of rock and roll's past

Of the subjects that appeal to fine artist Jessie Buddell, only one of them is still alive. That would be Grace Slick. So far, the rest are Jerry Garcia, Jim Morrison, Tommy Bolin, Keith Moon, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix. She's made portraits of each.

"She's a Woodstock hippie that was born too late," explains her boyfriend Dave Madden. Indeed - with her straight blond hair, suede coat, jeans, and tennis shoes, she looks the part.

And she loves classic rock. "Whenever I paint anything, it's always to music."

Slick is captured in one of Buddell's collage-construction-paintings as a young adult during her salad days with the Jefferson Airplane and possibly buzzed on something exotic, judging by the additional imagery that floats about Slick's rendering. The hookah-blowing caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland, for example.

Buddell's day job is as a design illustrator. She lives in Casa de Oro with Madden, the former drummer for Wild Child, a Doors tribute band.

"She designed the Snow Buddies," Madden says, Snow Buddies being a kind of collectible figurine that was mass-marketed.

"That was back in 1999," Buddell says, "when I worked for Encore."

Before the classic rock artist series, Buddell painted numerous portraits of blues stars for a gallery in Ocean Beach -- the Electric Chair Primitive Cool gallery.

"I love the blues," she says. "Without the blues, there would be no rock and roll or rhythm and blues. But I had to research a lot of those guys. You have to know a lot about someone before you can paint a portrait."

The research paid off. Actor Dan Aykroyd owns one of Buddell's life-size blues portraits: Albert King, complete with a real flying 'V', a type of guitar King was known to play.

Buddell's images are all like that. They are dimensional in that they include cutouts and real props. Jimi, for example, is playing an actual white Stratocaster not unlike the one he played at Woodstock.

Buddell points to a thumbnail image on her web site of her Robert Johnson portrait: "That's a real guitar and a real cigarette."

When she left the O.B. gallery, Buddell switched from painting blues stars to painting rock stars. The current images are stunning and life-like reminders from another era. Does she channel the subjects in some way in order to capture their likeness? Not really. "I just play music really loud."

Buddell is from Pennsylvania. "I've been doing art from day one, but I didn't start painting until Junior high school." She flew out her to visit a friend when she was 24. "Like most people who do that, I said, I have to live here." Ultimately, she did.

She'd like to plan a showing of her classic rocker collection. "My problem is that [when it comes to business] I'm not very far sighted. I think I need about five more paintings. Now, I'm really thinking more about painting a whole band. Led Zeppelin. The Who. The Yardbirds."

Buddell says she arrived at the 3-D look of her rock star art because she wanted the images to look like they were "popping out. It kind of invades your space," she says. "You love Jerry Garcia, you love the painting, you buy it, and you hang it in your home, and you kind of feel like Jerry's sitting there with you."

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/15/38466/

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

A history of the house on the hill at Ivanhoe Ranch

From Apolinaria Lorenzana to Jane Goodall

Of the subjects that appeal to fine artist Jessie Buddell, only one of them is still alive. That would be Grace Slick. So far, the rest are Jerry Garcia, Jim Morrison, Tommy Bolin, Keith Moon, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix. She's made portraits of each.

"She's a Woodstock hippie that was born too late," explains her boyfriend Dave Madden. Indeed - with her straight blond hair, suede coat, jeans, and tennis shoes, she looks the part.

And she loves classic rock. "Whenever I paint anything, it's always to music."

Slick is captured in one of Buddell's collage-construction-paintings as a young adult during her salad days with the Jefferson Airplane and possibly buzzed on something exotic, judging by the additional imagery that floats about Slick's rendering. The hookah-blowing caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland, for example.

Buddell's day job is as a design illustrator. She lives in Casa de Oro with Madden, the former drummer for Wild Child, a Doors tribute band.

"She designed the Snow Buddies," Madden says, Snow Buddies being a kind of collectible figurine that was mass-marketed.

"That was back in 1999," Buddell says, "when I worked for Encore."

Before the classic rock artist series, Buddell painted numerous portraits of blues stars for a gallery in Ocean Beach -- the Electric Chair Primitive Cool gallery.

"I love the blues," she says. "Without the blues, there would be no rock and roll or rhythm and blues. But I had to research a lot of those guys. You have to know a lot about someone before you can paint a portrait."

The research paid off. Actor Dan Aykroyd owns one of Buddell's life-size blues portraits: Albert King, complete with a real flying 'V', a type of guitar King was known to play.

Buddell's images are all like that. They are dimensional in that they include cutouts and real props. Jimi, for example, is playing an actual white Stratocaster not unlike the one he played at Woodstock.

Buddell points to a thumbnail image on her web site of her Robert Johnson portrait: "That's a real guitar and a real cigarette."

When she left the O.B. gallery, Buddell switched from painting blues stars to painting rock stars. The current images are stunning and life-like reminders from another era. Does she channel the subjects in some way in order to capture their likeness? Not really. "I just play music really loud."

Buddell is from Pennsylvania. "I've been doing art from day one, but I didn't start painting until Junior high school." She flew out her to visit a friend when she was 24. "Like most people who do that, I said, I have to live here." Ultimately, she did.

She'd like to plan a showing of her classic rocker collection. "My problem is that [when it comes to business] I'm not very far sighted. I think I need about five more paintings. Now, I'm really thinking more about painting a whole band. Led Zeppelin. The Who. The Yardbirds."

Buddell says she arrived at the 3-D look of her rock star art because she wanted the images to look like they were "popping out. It kind of invades your space," she says. "You love Jerry Garcia, you love the painting, you buy it, and you hang it in your home, and you kind of feel like Jerry's sitting there with you."

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jan/15/38466/

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Kill Rock Stars Saves a Life

Next Article

Kelsea Rae Little: Rocking the Harp

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader