Posted in At the Movies, Video, tagged Burning Sensations, Michael Nesmith, Modern Lovers, Monkees, Pablo Picasso, Repo Man on December 2, 2008| Leave a Comment »
It’s Tuesday. Tuesday deserves this.
This is the cover of Pablo Picasso by the Burning Sensations that was in the cult film Repo Man (from ex-Monkee Michael Nesmith). The Modern Lovers did this song originally but the Peter Gunn-style horns in this version make it for me.
Posted in Favorite Things, tagged Madara Hill, Mark Reep, Scott Coulter on December 2, 2008| 2 Comments »
I recently added a few useful links to this blog so if you’ve a moment, please check them out. The piece to the left, Still, is by artist Mark Reep. His works are painstakingly crafted and incredibly evocative. I have always admired his work. His site and his blog are chock full of info about his work, the process and much more.
Then there is the site of old friend Scott Coulter. I have known Scott since I first started showing and he has always been most encouraging. He’s a good guy and his photo-realistic landscapes are atmospheric and striking.
Finally, there is the blog of Madara Hill. The work is bold and full of color with a bit of whimsey and the blog is, like Mark’s, an interesting look inside the process of an artist.
Posted in Early Paintings, Technique/History, tagged Painting on December 1, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Painting for me has always been more like reading tea leaves than faithfully representing something sitting before me. I have always found that the excitement in painting was in not knowing exactly what would emerge from the blank sheet of paper or canvas, having to deeply look into the surface trying to discern what movement or stroke might be next. Trying to make out the outline of something, anything, in the first puddles of paint that might become something tangible. Much like seeing things in the clouds except with this, the clouds are controllable, to a certain point.
It’s something I’ve done since I was a kid. I remember laying on the living room floor in the old house on Wilawanna Road, looking up at the white curtains my mom had over every window. At the edge they frilled out a bit and in that edge I could see faces- peering eyes, flaring nostrils and gaping mouths. It filled a lot of time during my pre-teen years when I was often alone.
The piece above was one of the first things I did when I first picked up painting after my accident many years back. It was done with airbrush paints that had been lying around for years. It started with a large puddle of colors on the right and I simply started dragging paint from the puddle, forming the brow. I didn’t know it was a brow but it began to look like one to me and that led downward to the nose. That shape led to another and to another and soon an image emerged, something tangible that had its own power, its own life and story. Like reading tea leaves…
That is pretty much how I still paint to this day, with variations in the technique. I find it an exciting and always enlightening way to work. Always the potential for something new and different, which keeps life in the studio interesting.
Redtree Times 