| My
first (and so far only) commission piece. Granted, my father
and stepmother were the ones who commissioned me (their
new house had a vast amount of empty wall space above the
mantle), but it still counts. Mark it, Lebowski.
All
kidding aside, this was the most ambitious artwork I have
tackled to date. The only paramters pops and his better
half gave me were: a pretty nature picture with pretty water
and pretty trees and pretty clouds. For the most part I
conjured the entire piece from the contents of my cranium,
an unsual approach for me when it comes to "realist"
portraits. My intent was to create a surrealist landscape
(hence the greenish skies and somewhat unnatural rendering
of light in the foreground. If instead I were asked to paint
from a photograph, why not simply blow up the photo and
hang that? I say take advantage of the opportunity and open
a portal into uncharted dimensional territory. Who's with
me?
All
told, "Gibraltar," so named because of the Spanish
colonial architecture and the "strait" of sorts
depicted here, took the better part of a year, on and off,
before completing it in the nick of time for the parents'
annual Christmas party. A guest at the soiree asked in jest
whether the piece was of the "paint by numbers"
variety. If only. |
