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.