I love oil paintings but they take forever to finish. They evolve in their own time and there isn’t much I can do to speed it up. Sometimes, I take weeks painting and repainting a section of a piece, knowing in my gut that something is not quite right. Then suddenly it will occur to me that that bit I’ve been painting needs to be a quarter of an inch to the left or needs a little Mars Orange instead of Mars Red. and Then Pow! the picture just gels. It’s a magical moment but boy does it take a long time to get there sometimes.
So I started thinking about doing work that is quicker, more immediate.
I tend to spend too much time doom scrolling on Twitter, leaving me feeling anxious, frustrated, and powerless. It’s been a rough couple of years. Time-honored ways of dealing with these dark feelings, ranging from pointless internet squabbles to day drinking to yoga, worked for me with varying levels of success. Drawing pictures of powerful rich jerks getting punched in the face, however, is very cathartic.
And thus a new series was born.
The pieces are made with charcoal, white gouache, and sometimes a little ink. And they don’t take five weeks to make. You can see more from this body of work over at my newly revamped website.
What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
