Body As Bridge

From One World To The Next - 2012 - acrylic on illustration board - 15 x 20 inches

I am in a time of great transition right now as I am moving my studio of 21 years in downtown Winnipeg, to a new location in my just-moved-to new residence. A lot of change. Perhaps too much. It took me 6 weeks to paint this 17 hour painting. To me it's a long time, though some of these paintings have taken me years to finish because I just did not know how to resolve them at their various stages, or they just seemed to want to have more detail in them. But for this painting, I just did not have the time. From packing up the house for months and moving at Easter, and then right after starting to pack up the studio, all I've been doing is packing, sorting and reflecting. The only other art time is a bit of doodling.

There has been a lot of reflection, memories, realization of a loss. I came across a new piece of old music that I have not heard before by one of my early favorite musicians , Jean Michel Jarre. The piece is called En Attendant Cousteau in the Cd of the same name. This music came to me at a time that seems to reflect in a great deal this inner sadness and loss(?) and cosmic memory.

Change is good they say. I don't see it yet. I'm not sure where I am headed. There are parts of me that even wonder If I will paint anymore. Do I even want to?  I don't even have room to paint in the new place! This painting was a struggle as it seemed that I was forgetting how to paint. Like a dream that is there when you first realize that you were dreaming, then when you are fully awake there are only fragments left.

This painting is a rendition of a painting I did in a few hours, a couple years ago at a painting jam at the Keycon sci-fi convention. I liked the painting a lot, but there was something that needed to be explored more, and I had wanted to create another version of it since. When I started the painting in March of this year I did not know for a fact that I was moving the studio.  It seems appropriate now.

I will let my higher self lead me to higher ground.        

SPLAT!

OK, technically this is not a real painting, nor is it a virtual painting but rather a virtual composite of a 1 cm square image of a splat of ink made on a card originally done as a test for an experimental film I did a few years ago. Each frame on this 16mm film had a splat similar to this but of course different which created an interesting effect when projected. The splat was made by drawing back a rubber band loaded with india ink, then released which subsequently hit the surface and releasing the ink. I came across this test image recently then enlarged the heck out of it then played with it a little in photoshop. The frame was constructed in Adobe Illustrator.

 

Godzilla Attack

Godzilla - acrylic on illustration board - 15 x 20 inches

I've been wanting to do a Godzilla painting for quite some time. It makes it hard when you can't decide which of the many ideas to do first. A fight with Rodan and with Mothra are on the list but for this first one I wanted to loosen up with Godzilla solo and I wanted to give that thing on the top of his brow a bit more focus. I don't think it's talked about enough. What is it? Most all the detail is focused at the top portion of the painting making Godzilla larger than life and move forward in slow Toho monster motion while he methodically blast the bejebez around itself.

    

Entrance

Entrance 2080 - Feb 2012 - acrylic on board - 40.5 x 71 cm - 16 x 28 in

I like how this painting looks in b&w and in sepia  and I love this painting in different sections and orientations. It really changes the dynamics. Is this a spaceship painting or a figurative painting? 

This painting is from one of my Breath doodles of May 2006. The background was painted in August 2011. I liked it as is so I lived with it for awhile as a landscape painting. I knew sooner or later I would have to put the figures in. I see these figures as waiting at an entrance, and if I want to get more specific, you'll have to get a hold of me to tell you where it is.

Remembering

I Always Think I'll Remember - Jan 2012 - 14 x 18 in. - acrylic on canvas panel

 

     I always think I'll remember is a phrase I always believe to be true at the moment in time that I think it, but proves to be never the case. I think it to be true because if I remember something a few seconds after the thought or action I think it will be obvious that I'll remember later on. Why wouldn't I, I think. If for example I filed a certain sketch under 'G', the reasoning is obvious at that time. But really it is ONLY obvious and related to that moment in time where certain pathways are made by the neurons in my brain.  Time then juggles those pathways in life and creates constantly differing views of an instant. So then when it comes time to find the sketch I realize I could have filed it under various letters or it's tucked in a book because of some other connection I had made to it.  Or when I've had a dream in the middle of the night and have awaken from it, I think about about writing it down but I convince myself "that of course I'm going to remember this wacky dream. How on earth could I forget it?". But then, when your halfway between awake and dreams, your simply not on this earth anymore. I don't know what any of this has to do with this painting.

     I Always Think I'll Remember was painted from some sketches I did in 1995 for a series of works to be called Presence. I am slowing working on them, plus there are always newer ideas to paint which is why it took so long to get back to this one.  There is another sketch on the same sheet  that turned into a painting in 2001 and there is another sketch on the same sheet that I would like to do soon. I seem to be getting back into my cosmic surreal stuff - phase 2. 

     It's interesting that this is only the second time that I have painted on a canvas board.  The first time was exactly 30 years ago! The general notion back then was that these boards seemed kinda cheepy or used by amateurs. Now, I don't know what the general take is on them. I actually don't mind'em. Wish I had some more. Check out my 30 years ago blog to see the other canvas panel painting.

     

So Smooth. So Clean. So Optimistic.

Breath Of Life - Nov2011 - acrylic on canvas - 12 x 16 in

     It's been awhile since I did a painting like this. So smooth, so clean looking. Takes me back to the eighties. It's not how I was expecting to paint it. But this is how it turned out and it was really quite out of my control. Maybe the other way I wanted to paint it is not really me, and this way is? One should not have to think about how one should paint a picture (in terms of style), but as an illustrator I've always exercised that option of having various ones at my disposal, so,  I do find it interesting when the painting, and this is from that first moment the paint touches canvas, that the future of the painting is already dictated sometimes irregardless of ones thoughtful projection and what one ends up with is an illustration of the heart.

    

Subatomic Consciousness

When We Become Smooth - Oct2011 - oil on canvas - 16 x 20 in.

     There will be a time when all the workings of the universe will an integrated part of our innate understanding, not necessarily knowing all the physics of it but the feeling of it. This knowledge will be part of our total being, the point when our body remembers and when everything makes sense.  

Oasis - Oct2011 - oil on canvas - 22 x 22

     This is the beginning of a new series of work called presence. I would like to become more aware of my surroundings. This includes the energy of the space around me as it interacts with the energy that is generated by my internal being.