Paintings 43-45 of 365: So, I got to a point with this project where I had an idea for a piece but there are things I didn’t know how to do in watercolors to make it happen, hence the Universe painting (#43) today, and in the last two posts, (here and here). Today’s post contains a few paintings with elements of either a technique, or playing with concepts of style and spirit of the upcoming God piece. I believe these experiments have their own charm though.
I always enjoy seeing the finished piece vs. the rough sketches, to see the artist’s mind taking every detail available to the lump of matter in their skull, crunching it down to the comparative few strokes of the final work. These are simultaneously rough sketches and finished works. I’ll explain that conundrum to anyone who can explain the Trinity to me without using tautology.
But art really is a tip-of-the-iceberg thing. Whenever you see artwork, literature, performing arts, etc., the final product represents many, many discarded ideas, blood, sweat, tears, etc. Even if it isn’t rough sketches, there’s still much iceberg beneath the water. A quote attributed to Pablo Picasso suggests, “It took me 30 years to learn how to do that in 30 seconds.”
Similarly, it takes 12 pounds of grain, 35 pounds of topsoil, and 2400 gallons of water (19,200 pounds) to produce one pound of beef. Yikes! Glad I eat plants– smaller footprint and they fart less.
In #44 here is God, in His eternal glory, farting around with some planets. All-powerful beings have got to have fun sometimes, when they’re not flooding or smiting people. The “upcoming painting” is a take on God that I found amusing, and will likely end up hanging in my office, though I may make another one to sell.
#45 is also thematically aimed at the upcoming painting. This reflects the sensibility of my book of illustrations, “Snapshots of God,” which I might sell online at some point. I currently only sell them at shows because I hate stuffing one envelope at a time. Give me 100 envelopes to stuff, and I’m your guy.
If you really want one, drop me a line and I’ll hook you up.
