Saturday, March 26, 2016

Not Frida

The MOST important source of inspiration for painting ideas is our own lives... and what we like most.


I do a lot of commissions of animals, mostly dogs. Have animals ever held such high esteem with
their people in history?  I know my dog is the sweetest person I've ever met.

A friend has me doing a series of animal portraits, for his wife, of all the pets they have owned together. That have died. Individual paintings of each. This includes about 4 dogs, and maybe 9 bunnies. (They don't presently own any bunnies, but have 2 dogs). His wife is a good friend of mine, fairly eccentric, and almost always dresses in black. So I've kept the paintings subdued, not adding too much color. A bit of a challenge.

I never knew any of their former pets, but I know their present ones. Both of their dogs are pit bulls, as nice as they can be. One of them, Frida, has that pinky coloring around her face, with white fur, and she is beautiful. Every time I'm at their house, I take pictures of her, I just love her pink face.  So when I saw an image of another pit bull with the same sort of face, I decided to paint it and add paper as I do with a lot of my paintings. I colored her in pinks and navy as I was thinking a lot about that color combination. Guess who she ended up looking like? Yep, Frida.  So because I am only painting their deceased animals, I decided to call the painting Not Frida. But I still think of Frida when I look at it. Here's Not Frida:


Wednesday, March 16, 2016

But, But, Butt...

Inspiration is a message-in-a-bottle from the distant shore, a window into the other world, a tap of the muse's finger, the grace of the gods. It comes when you least expect it...
--Phil Cousineau

I have written several posts on how my subconscious often leads me in creating paintings, usually with my conscious self unaware. I have also spoken (ad nauseum, probably) about my chronic illness -- intestinal related, usually a taboo subject (at least around "proper" people).  Unfortunately, it affects many of the decisions I make in my life, although I refuse to let it rule me.

Several people have asked me why I do paintings of animal butts.  Yes, you read that right.  Before having it pointed out, I was completely unaware of this catalog of subject matter.  Now I realize that there are quite a few rear end views. I sort of see animals as the all-knowing, wise rulers of the earth, and they are a source of constant inspiration for me. It is natural for me to express -- project actually -- some of my own feelings/fears onto these creatures that I paint. So, here is my roundup:


                                  Green Zebra  (24"x 30")


                                 Bunny Butt  (18" x 36")



Roo (24" x 30")



                                     Besties (12" x 16")
                                     sold



Blue Emu (10" x 10")
sold


Chickens Cooped (24" x 36")
sold


Dog in Flower Shop   (10" x 20")
sold



Dalmation Rear  (16" x 20")