About the middle of last year, I started painting small faces.  The first four 5×7″ fauve faces I did fit together in a piece I called Peer Pressure.   All of them were done following intuition, using bright unrealistic color, and letting each piece tell it’s own story.

I found I didn’t have the same kind of angst and worry when I painted small.  I just went forward, and if I didn’t like what I was doing, I painted over it and started again.  I now usually keep a 5×7″ canvas close by when I’m painting other things, so I can use the colors on the brushes to get started.  Eventually, each piece takes on a life of it’s own.  Most of the pieces had a statement to make, though some only do so by the expression and colors of their faces.

After an art guide talk with Gwenn Seemel, she suggested that I make a goal of putting them together in a book.   I thought that was a great idea.  I have 16 pieces now and I hope to have somewhere around 30 for the book, which I hope to have finished in the late fall.  The working title for the book is “It’s Written All Over Your Face.”

I am trying to remain intuitive about what I paint, but obviously, what’s going on in our world will influence how the pieces develop, as well as my own goal to paint disability and neuro-diversity.

I’m excited about this project and it’s helped free me from some of the 2020 doldrums that have kept me feeling directionless and powerless.  I expect a masked character or two will show up before long.

Thank you for your support and I look forward to sharing the book’s progress with you.  At this point, all the originals have sold, but some may be available soon.

 

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