Yous’ Glendon Era: Feminine, Floral & Henna Lines

Glendon Studio: Where Henna Ink and Oil Paint Held Counsel

Los Angeles – A Sanctuary of Line and Luminosity

The Glendon years began with a revelation: henna doesn’t forgive. Its intricate patterns—flowing from wrist to shoulder like liquid lace—demanded the same precision as the finest brushwork. In this sunlit studio, henna became the stern but generous teacher that sharpened every contour, while oils whispered more fluid secrets.

The Dual Apprenticeship

🌿 Henna’s Rigorous Gifts

Mastering continuous-flow lines without hesitation marks

Learning how negative space sings between strokes

Translating henna’s temporary beauty into permanent oils

🎨 Oil Painting’s Response

The Floral Codices series: petals as henna patterns

Portraits where hair became vine-work, braids like arabesques

The day a henna commission bled into an oil painting’s border

Themes That Bloomed

🔮 Symbolism in New Script

Henna’s traditional motifs reimagined as visual parables

Pomegranates now bursting with intricate line-work

The Moon & Henna Diaries – nocturnal women crowned in floral mandalas

🌸 The Feminine, Redefined

Bodies as both canvas and cartography

Draped fabrics revealing hidden henna-inspired watersheds

The Nine Gestures series – hands telling stories in oil and line

Studio Rituals

✍️ Daily Line Drills

Morning henna exercises on paper before touching oils

A dedicated ink-and-nib corner for spontaneous studies

The "one-breath rule" for unbroken strokes

🖌 Oil’s Counterbalance

Afternoons of loose, intuitive glazing

Evenings reviewing how henna’s discipline freed the brush

The wall of abandoned lines – imperfect starts kept as teachers

Legacy of Glendon

Though the studio closed in 2005, its lessons endure in:
✅ The "Lineage" Collection – Where henna and oils explicitly merge
✅ Current mural commissions featuring living henna elements
✅ Workshops teaching henna’s principles to oil painters

"Henna taught me to trust the hand’s memory. Oils showed me how to make that memory breathe."