10/23/08 – The painting that has been in-progress for well over a year is now started. The board is on the easel and the sketch has been made. Now all I have to do is paint & scratch the bloody thing.
The inspiration for the work came from a Cinco de Mayo celebration I photographed in 2007. I played around with a lot of compositions using a lot of images trying to find something that would tell a story. Eventually, I got the elements that had the emotion I was looking: a pause in the middle of the dance where two of the performers try to steal an intimate moment.
I’ve wanted to do something with some vibrancy; also, I’ve wanted to push the technique a little so that it isn’t just airbrush, and the scratch isn’t just for fur. This piece has been something I’ve both been looking forward to and dreading. I’ve done many tests to hone various techniques, but none of them were 100% successful. In fact, most were comlete failures. As we tend to learn more from failure than success, combined with my desire to finally take this off the to-do list, I’m plunging in and hoping it turns out at least as well as I’m picturing it in my head.
