Birthday

It was my birthday last week, and I thought I would capture it in comic.  Obviously I'm feeling some form of pressure (most likely self-imposed) about the addition of one more year on my age...but the feeling passes quickly enough.

A comic beginning

After a particularly lackadaisical Sunday I decided I would capture it in good ol' pen and ink.  It's about as deep as an ashtray, but I really like the lazy flow of the activities culminating in a very satisfied sleep.  I think it captures something interesting about close friendship and how, even when you don't feel like talking, it makes waiting for the streetcar oh so much more enjoyable.

In the flesh

This one, to me, is half a painting.  It is the underlayer, the base you paint in order to build up depth in the ensuing colours.  My problem is - what will the top coat be?  I have this (terrible?) feeling that when I start to overpaint this one I will in fact obliterate it.  I've never before felt that to be a negative thing, because usually I'm so unsatisfied with the original image that I'm happy to start over.  But this one has a quality that I enjoy and one that I would be sad to lose.  She's not finished, however, and she needs work. 

Acrylic on canvas

16" x 20"

Human Landscape

2008

Acrylic on canvas

20" x 16"

Painted and overpainted, this piece started as one thing, reached middle age as Image 2356 - which you can see in an earlier post - and for the moment has paused here.  I find it extraordinarily interesting how the paintings, when painted over, can take on a completely new style or mood.  There is a person under there, still (I haven't yet been able to divorce myself from painting people) but the colours are masking, hiding, protecting him from the viewer.  I think I will let the painting pause here for a while.