I came across a song yesterday, an old surf guitar instrumental from the Ventures called The Creeper, that reminded me of this painting of mine of the same title. I had written about this painting before here a couple of years back but had not mentioned how it was one of the paintings that I regret selling. This was part of the Exiles series that I painted in the mid 90’s, mostly grieving figures painted with segmented features.
It was the first real series I had painted and was the basis for my first solo show. I think I only sold three of those pieces and regret having taken any of them from that group of work. I think because those pieces were so much the product of a specific emotional state at a certain time, I will not be able to capture that exact feel again. I have periodically painted figures in that style over the years since and while they have certain charms, they lack the impact of these earlier pieces.
These few pieces are gone but at least I have images to take a look at when their memories start to creep in, much like that fellow above.
Here’s the song that reminded me of this painting, The Creeper from the Ventures. This piece is very reminiscent of Wipeout ( with maybe a little Peter Gunn thrown in) but is really distinguished by some super organ work from the great Leon Russell in an early appearance in 1964. Give a listen– it’ll rev up your Sunday.
Redtree Times 