Last year on this blog, I talked about a piece that I was commissioned to paint translating the Greek myth of Baucis and Philemon, the couple that were spared by the Zeus because of the deep love they shared and the humility and generosity they displayed. They lived on in eternity as a pair of trees growing from the same trunk. I did not translate the piece literally but used my visual vocabulary to convey the qualities that I think make up the couple. All in all, I think it was a very successful piece.
I was recently asked to paint another version based on this same myth after the person requesting it had seen my first take on it. The result is shown here. It has a more celebratory feel than the first version and has a real sense of optimism in its color and composition. I think it has a very different overall feel than the first but really hits the mark.
It’s not always easy when I am asked to produce a painting based on another painting of mine. There are so many little variables that make a painting successful, sometimes things that I have no control over or an action of mine of which I might not even be aware. Sometimes even the time of the year makes a difference. For instance, right now , it is cooler in the studio than earlier in the year. As a result, the surfaces dry at different rates and sometimes there is a subtle difference in the way certain colors dry and adhere. So a color painted in July may not turn out absolutely the same in October. Fortunately, for this request the colors and format were different so it was not a matter of replicating the first version.
I hope this painting serves its new owners well and well represents their own time together. It’s been my pleasure to have folks like this use my work as a symbol for a part of their lives.
Redtree Times 