WORK IN PROGRESS
Follow the progress on a painting that began in August 2024
Normally the largest size canvases I work on are 4ft x 6ft. Because I have more wall space in my new studio at 333 Midland, I was excited to stretch an even BIGGER canvas to work on over the summer. I bought all the materials and got to work stretching this… 5ft X 7ft monster. I’ll have to order oversized canvas to go bigger than that, at least in height. At any rate, after stretching this in mid-July, it hung on my studio wall for a couple of weeks while I tried to decide what to do with it, until one night I gave into peer pressur… erh, I mean, I decided to dive in and just let the painting paint itself.
I started this painting the weekend of August 23. My works have had an extra layer of darkness to them this year. While continuing to explore the theme of interracial identity, colorblindness, politics and all that fun stuff, thoughts about mortality, spirituality and the afterlife have been coming out in recent works.
Oct 1 In this updated version I turned up the light of the moon in order to better define the space. In doing so, a pyramid of light began to take form. I like how it gives credence to this altered reality, but time will tell how strong of a feature it will be. Also, I’m not sure if the Cyclops Cop is going to stick around… but we shall see!!!
Oct 12 A short session tonight working only in black. I got rid of the Cyclops cop, as well as the panther’s rump and tail for now. I want to bring out more of the night sky and envision a handful of clouds subtly lit by the moon there later. I noticed that people were having a hard time making sense of the panther’s position and anatomy in the painting, so I’m working to figure that out. The “scratching claws” in the bottom right looked too busy, so I began to better define the arc and speed at which the claws are moving.
Oct 30 Just going to marinate on this for a minute.