I was home and looking at a painting I'd done a few years ago when I saw, what you see above, in my head. I couldn't believe it and wouldn't let the idea go. I recovered the canvases, buried deep in a closet, and set them up in my studio so I could begin to visualize what I expected and begin to draw on them. The drawings came out pretty quickly and the next step would be the multimedia that is kind of like a paste that you can build up as I have in these works. It is very messy from this point on.
I started building up the multimedia on the third canvas, or the one on the right. The drawing itself was reasonably simple and and now I had to think about a number of issues. The first one was, how high off of the canvas did I want to build it up? Noticing how thin some of the sections were, I knew I shouldn't get to carried away.
A friend of mine visited me and I showed her the work I had in progress. In my very passionate way, described these pieces to her telling her how I feel these three images representing different characteristics that I have. I began to tell her about what I planned to paint in the background of the second (middle) canvas, but told her that I wasn't looking forward to thinking about how I could visually represent the remaining paintings. She looked at me and simply told me not to paint a background into them. I thought she was crazy, but I just left it there.
I spend a lot of time staring at works in progress, I think most artists do. It was about a month later after my friends visit and I had evolved the forms a lot more. It was late at night and turned on a light. I saw the distinct shadows that the single light was making. I realized that if I did paint scenes in the background of these, that the essence of the image itself would be lost. I looked at the shadows being created and began to move the light around to see where, and how, the shadows would display. I realized how powerful this effect was and then decided not to paint scenes in the background of them but use another technique that I use from time to time. I set out to polish all three of them with white oil paint.
Polish with oil paint? You bet! Here is how you do it. Get a reasonably smooth surface. For me, I use the multimedia and grind the media into the canvas to fill the weave in the material. The canvas likes it and the oil paint absorb into it nicely. I use a lot of paint in this process. I squeeze out the paint and begin to rub the paint into the canvas with my hands. Once I feel that the entire canvas is covered with paint, white, in this case, I let it set for 2-3 hours.
The properties of the oil paint change over time and by waiting a few hours renders the best viscosity. The oil paint has a tacky feel to it and is now ready for the next phase. Get a bucket of water. Something that you don't care about if you get paint on it and something that you could get both hands in if you needed to. I rub my hands on the surface to pick up a little of the oil paint and then pour the water onto the canvas? How much? About a cup and a half. Start moving the water and rubbing the oil paint on the surface of the canvas and find the pressure point that blends the two elements together to make them work.
Okay, how did I figure that out? Was is my elaborate education or years of painting? No. Actually, I learned how to do this in the United States Army. This 'force of one' had to polish his shoes and boots, just like all the other 'forces of one'. Spit shine. It isn't a glamorous expression, but I took the concept into oil paint and it works.
The smooth, shined surfaces make it hard to not touch the raised forms on the canvas. The effects, along with the forms, matched perfectly and I found this blend of artistic inspiration as well as an eclectic influence very successful in this series.
