TO MICHIGAN!

ONE MARTYRS STORY

DONE

I finished the paintings at 6am the morning of the 16th of August.  Back when I started in April, my goal was to finish by the 15th of August so the paintings would have enough time to dry before I had to take them off the stretcher bars and roll them up.  It took working 15 to 20 hours a day to reach the goal.  I am tired now and feel like I have aged 15 years.  But I am so happy with the paintings.  I haven't updated the blog on the progress too much on account that I was either asleep or painting over the last 4 months.  But I did take pics and I will start adding posts of the progress pics I took.  This next group of pictures were taken by my friend Cassidy Stanton.  See her facebook page here.  Thanks Cass!

A DOCUMENTARY

Follow this link to see the Young Saints and Old Martyrs Documentary.

I must be the most un-important person that ever had a documentary made about them.  Hawk Zatar from Spiral of Life Studios came in to the studio a couple times a week to film the process and progress of the paintings.  He started filming from the day I hung the canvas' on the wall up until about the half way point.  It was nice having a weekly visitor at the studio.  After a few 16 hour days of painting by myself, the company was appriciated.  It kept me sane I think. 

It was interesting wathching a documentary about a painting I was still working on, and am still working on!  It made the concept fresh in my mind again and has been a great motivator to push to fininish the painting.  I have eight days to finish....

DILEMMA

I have one month left to finish this painting.  I am working on it on average ten to 12 hours a day and getting home at about 3 am.  I am wearing myself out.  Right now I am facing a dilemma.  I have been thinking about this painting for so long.  I feel like it is an important painting in my young career.  And I am rushing to complete it for this competition that started out as an excuse to paint it.  I don’t feel like the quality is suffering yet, but my health and well being is.  My mind has lost track of everything and anything except this painting.  I bought tickets to see one of my favorite bands, The Avett Brothers, and I completely spaced going.  The only reason I am able to spend time on this blog now, is because I am on an airplane flying in from L.A.  I came out here for the launch of issue number 9 of BlueCanvas magazine which I am featured in, and almost spaced it too!

So the dilemma is: do I sacrifice my well being and possibly the quality of the work, or do I sacrifice the possibility of winning a whole load of cash?  I keep asking myself these things, but I know what the answer is.  I am going to push through and finish it.  After all, sleep and health are over-rated anyway.  And if I finish it by mid August, or slow down and finish it when I finish it, it will still equal the same amount of hours, just spread out over a longer period of time.  I can rest when I am done.      

MARTYRS

Here is where I am with the Old Martyrs now.  I am going back over to the other wall to work on the Young Saints now.  I will go over the whole paainting again to tie up loose ends and to build up the paint.  After I finish that, I will come back to this one and do the same.  So... I am at the half way point right now, and am either two weeks behind, or one week ahead of scedule.  It's a paradox I know, but it makes sence to me and I don't think I will explain myself.

PAINT MAKES FLESH

It is so fascinating to me that from the four colors I put on my pallete, comes all the colors I use in the painting!

PROGRESS.....

And now introducing......... The Old Martyrs

WHY-O-WHY?

A lot of people have asked me why I would paint such a large painting.  What am I going to do with it?  Who would buy it?  Who has the wall space?  All good questions I suppose, but none that I ever consider when I start a painting.  I suppose a better question is why do I paint at all?  I paint to get images out of my mind.  I see the painting before I even start it, and the only way to get rid of it, is to paint it.  The idea for this painting has been floating around in my head for a while.  It started out at eight feet, but as I thought about it more, it had to be life size, which meant it would be 19 feet long and 6 feet tall.  And the painting that faces it would be 12 feet long and 6 feet tall.  The problem with canvases that large is that once I stretch them in my studio, the only way they are coming out is if I take the canvas off the stretcher bars and break the stretcher bars down to 8 foot lengths.

Another problem with painting this size is cost… That would be enough to stop any sensible person.  Before I started the painting, and after pricing out materials, I spent a couple anxiety filled weeks facing the reality that I WAS going to do this painting.  It wasn’t a question of weighing out the pros and cons and making a rational decision.  In my mind I already knew I was going to no matter what.  The idea was there, and it had to be painted, I was there only to facilitate its creation. 

To help rationalize this decision in my mind, and for those around me that gave me the cocked-eye-brow-look, I am entering the painting into a competition in September called ArtPrize.  It has a large cash prize and set the minds of those close to me a little more at ease that I am doing this to win some big bucks.  The truth is, I would do it even if there was no competition, and the chances of me getting in are extremely small… 

PAINT! PAINT! PAINT!

DRAWING 101

Getting this laid out turned out to be a bit of a math problem... To draw them accurate to each other, I had to measure each person when they came in to pose, then figure out how to translate that to figures with no feet!  I would tell you how I did it, but I don't want to.  It was too complicated.

Although the under-wears of all these young saints will eventually be while, it was fun to have them start off looking like an American Apparel add.  The halos will also eventually be white gold leaf. 

     

STRETCHING 19 FEET OF CANVAS!

Would you believe it if I told you I stretched this sucker by myself!??  It was quite the ordeal.  I had to tie it off to my ceiling just to keep it from falling over.  It took three days and 4 buckets of gesso to cover it with 6 coats.  I ordered the stretcher bars from a company out of Canada that specializes in large canvases, eh.  They turned out to be super fantastic!  All the pieces break down to 6 foot lengths, which is important, since the only way this painting can come out of my studio is if I take it apart!  Thanks Canada!