Redtree Times

Every so often I try to break things up with my work, go a bit away from my typical subject matter.  Usually these are pieces that are mainly for myself, pieces that give me a different sort of satisfaction.  They’re not always my best work but just the process of painting them and the pleasure they give personally give me makes them some of my favorite pieces.  Such is the case with the painting shown here, a smallish 4 1/2″  by 6″ work on paper that I finished yesterday in the studio.

I have done a number of guitar pieces through the years.  While I think it has to do with my love for guitar music, I think it has as much to do with the shape of the instrument and the manner in which it is held, almost in a loving embrace.  As I have noted here in the past, the guitar has been a frequent subject of artists through the ages for just this reason.  So yesterday, while trying to clear my artistic palette a bit, started my day set on painting a small guitar painting,  I had no idea how it would proceed or even the feel that it would hold.  I just started with the idea of a guitar.

It wasn’t until  late in the game that it broke free and became a dancing piece, mainly because I came to a point where I wanted to have the entire figure, feet included, in the frame.  Without this , it would be too stiff, too formal, and the manner in which the guitar was painted was anything but that.  It’s cartoonish, more like a cardboard prop, especially in the way it was being held.  But in order to get the feet in frame I would have to have them askew, in motion.

He suddenly became another Rockin’ Billy, like the oil crayon piece here on the left that I did  for myself many years ago. and featured here several years back. At this point, my memory of this piece kicked in and I even modeled the feet in the same fashion.  I also kicked up the colors a little more to create a little higher contrast, making it more stylized.  It reminds me of  a cartoon or a stained glass window.

As I said, it’s not my typical work and probably won’t leave the studio.  But I find great enjoyment in this type of work, finding purpose and direction in them that propels me ahead in my other work.  I think that makes these pieces memorable for me, makes them stick with me.  Plus, it gives me a chance to play a song from Johnny Burnette, one of the early Rockabilly kings, probably a little less remembered than some  others.  Here’s a song and frantic video that would make my Rockin’ Billy dance, called Train Kept A Rollin’.