Painting never gets any easier. Make that a big PERIOD at the end of that last sentence. Developments, realizations and even breakthroughs only open the door to a new set of problems. Last night I sat down in front a Crime Face painting that I recently considered done. It still had a problem with it and I tried a few things that only made the problem more obvious so I sat back down and thought, “Do I really enjoy the struggle?”
Without answering that question I carried on and found a familiar solution. White paint! I painted out the problem. Gone. It’s a funny thing how often the “less is more” method works in art or music. It can’t be any sort of modernist concept because it is too sturdy. And it only intensifies the remaining interactions or dialog.
I started a new painting project with some street kids from a local shelter. I took photos of them so my source material is considerably better than the tiny mugshots from the Crimestoppers page of the newspaper. I’m hoping to involve the kids with the whole project somehow but I haven’t figured out the details. I did these sketches the other night and may try some more tonight.
Duane Sherwood is guest posting to Kevin Patrick’s “Juke Box in the Sky” site and that can only mean vintage Jamaican music like this gem from Prince Buster.
1 Comment
Great timing Duane, the man is 71 today. That’s saying a lot!
http://www.hpska.com/prince70.jpg