Okay so it's been a while since i've done a Freewheelin' Friday, and even longer since i've made a fresh piece exclusively for Freewheelin' Friday, but thats all because I haven't been in one place long enough to scratch my ass, let alone focus on a new project. But the dust has settled, "regular" life has resumed, and I decided last week to get back in the swing of it, and it all started the night before trash day...
Riding my bicycle around the neighborhood, i spotted a particular hunk of trash that looked promising. Apparently, somebody had a home made photo portrait booth operation type thing set up in their house, and there was just a bunch of huge rolls of backdrops, most of them christmas themed. I grabbed a giant 5x10 gaudy 1950's style X-mas tree, and another huge roll of just a white background. They weren't pristine, and I'm guessing both date back over 50+ years, but thats just fine. I had been wanting to paint on a surface other than wood like I had done in the past, mainly because shipping a huge sheet of plywood across the country is a real pain in the ass and wallet, so my newly acquired canvas presented a brand new opportunity.
Upon bringing the roll home, I started brainstorming on what image I wanted to paint. It took all of 3 seconds for me to recall one of my favorite pictures I got from Smoke Out 13; one of George pulling just an insane wheelie, one that came quite close to the tipping point. Materials were gathered, tables and chairs were moved, and for the next week and a half my kitchen became my studio.
Every time I start a painting like this, it doesn't take long before the project takes on a personailty of its own. I went into it thinking i'd try and knock it out in one night, but what you see below is about 30 hours of work, somewhere along the 4th or 5th day.
Riding my bicycle around the neighborhood, i spotted a particular hunk of trash that looked promising. Apparently, somebody had a home made photo portrait booth operation type thing set up in their house, and there was just a bunch of huge rolls of backdrops, most of them christmas themed. I grabbed a giant 5x10 gaudy 1950's style X-mas tree, and another huge roll of just a white background. They weren't pristine, and I'm guessing both date back over 50+ years, but thats just fine. I had been wanting to paint on a surface other than wood like I had done in the past, mainly because shipping a huge sheet of plywood across the country is a real pain in the ass and wallet, so my newly acquired canvas presented a brand new opportunity.
Upon bringing the roll home, I started brainstorming on what image I wanted to paint. It took all of 3 seconds for me to recall one of my favorite pictures I got from Smoke Out 13; one of George pulling just an insane wheelie, one that came quite close to the tipping point. Materials were gathered, tables and chairs were moved, and for the next week and a half my kitchen became my studio.
Every time I start a painting like this, it doesn't take long before the project takes on a personailty of its own. I went into it thinking i'd try and knock it out in one night, but what you see below is about 30 hours of work, somewhere along the 4th or 5th day.
Just a few nights ago I finished painting the black and white portion, a mile marker I thought would never come. A few days after I started, I woke up with a really sore left elbow and couldn't figure out why they hell it hurt so bad... Well when I started painting that next day after work, I noticed i was constantly flexing my entire left arm so as to keep my palate close to my brush. Once i realized that, I had to force myself to relax that arm while the other one was painting, so as not to make it feel like it was going to shrivel up and fall off at night.
Just the black and white.
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