I Really Want To Paint Over Something...

Since we last spoke in any real length, Spillimanville has been going through a few changes in our life. We are leaving the teaching profession and returning to the world of hard working artist trying to get by. As scary and bizzare of a feeling it is creating within me, there is an overwhelming amount of excitement and belief in the future. I'll have a day job, so don't worry about that, and there will most certainly be more on that as we approach our return to the world of culinary delights as well. None the less, you can expect more Spillmanville in the year 2012. We are looking forward to the new year with a breath of fresh air and a sense that anything is possible.

Now onto today's post, because we don't want to get into all that bizzness. Last Sunday I went to the group show "Ripped From The Studio" at David Lusk Gallery. First, it was a gloomy, rainy, Sunday afternoon, so the day already felt weird. The show was fun to look at for sure, but what I was most interested in was the work of Tad Lauritzen Wright. His work consumed a whole wall like a visual monster. I just kinda stood there taking in as much as my little attention span could handle. Then, I'd walk away, get another beer, or have a little chitty chat session with other gallery goers and fellow artists, but I would keep going back to look for something new in Tad's piece. I did this over and over for the duration of the show. (that also led to a hell of a buzz, none the less).

Of course, if you read this blog, then you have heard me mention Tad's work numerous times. The boy just looks like he is having fun when he creates. I'm not an idiot, I understand the time and physical labor that he puts into the work, but it just comes across as fun and engaged. I think I felt like I was experiencing a day to day kind of feeling when I was looking at this stuff. I was enjoying that it was loosely edited and encapsulated so many ideas at once.

I have been really jazzed about new things lately, and it makes since that after doing and showing several large brush and ink drawings that I'd want to get back into the paint. So what happens when I get back into Spillmanville after picking up chemicals from the Home Depot (Chemicals as in turpentine and mineral spirits)? I'm starting to get the urges to not just paint, but to paint over something. I want to cram a bunch of imagery on top of something. WTF?

I have several oil paintings that I started in the past year or so, that for some reason or another have just never been finished. I have a few ideas as to why this is. First of all, these paintings are what I call scene paintings. As in they show a scene from something bigger, like a story or a movie. They are narratives. There is a story. The do have some form of action, but they just seem to have become boring to paint somewhere in the process. I think the amount of time that it takes to paint like this sometimes is too slow for my imagination to hang back for. I like to continuously work on new ideas, so sitting at the easel for long periods over a stretch of time only to see the painting come out exactly the way I though it would is not interactive enough for me. Yes, That should be the point, but there is just no room for the day to day events to play a role. Your mood changes from session to session, but the painting stays the same.

So. We shall see what the fate of this steamboat above is. It might get finished according to plan, but there is a good chance that Popeye's fists and arm's are about to come shooting out of the painting somewhere. Too many ideas in my head, and none of them have much to do with the other. Just throw them all together and let the viewer figure it out. We do all the art making. They need a job to do at the gallery as well.

Enjoy,

Spillmanville is against the wind.