Bluebeads (2012)
Travel-sized
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Back in 2007, when I did a drawing in a sketchbook which later became the painting “Golden,” I didn’t think it would turn into a series of paintings. And yet, it did.
This headdress-series was an enjoyable exploration with no end in mind. I enjoy variations on a theme. This series was also enjoyable for being fairly spontaneous. Mostly, they were about simply creating lovely objects, art for art’s sake I suppose.
Bluebeads was painted even smaller than the first pair, which included Golden, and has a nice gem-like quality about it that pleases me. When I painted the first pair, at 8x10” I was a little sad that I’d painted them so small. I liked them, but we often have a bigger-is-better mentality with art, born in no small part from the physical impact that original paintings have when you view them. The giant ones rock you like a hurricane. That’s a different experience altogether from looking at a gem, or a small bird. I think I’ve embraced this aspect a bit. I thought going in that I might really regret not doing this at 16x20” or so, with the head at 3/4 scale of whatever. Now that I’ve done it, I don’t.
Just before leaving NYC on a trip, which included a stop back in California to visit my friend, artist Ben Thompson, I took some reference photos for what would be this painting. I’d done my thumbnails, although to be honest I had not really worked out the costuming very in-depth. I packed my brushes and headed out. I was greatly looking forward to a couple of days painting at Ben’s house. This small 5x7” piece was the perfect size for such travel.
I hadn’t done any preliminary drawing or anything, and this piece moved quickly and almost effortlessly. It was probably due to the great time I was having. I arrived in SoCal, and within a couple of hours sat down, borrowed Ben’s paints, set out my reference and got to work, with Ben working alongside me on his own piece. Eschewing my usual methods, I just started doing the drawing straight with paint, skipping the pencil stage entirely. Within just a few hours I had a mostly finished underpainting rendered in Mars Violet, and then it was time for dinner with artists Daren Bader and Tom Baxa, who came over to Ben’s and had a look-see at what we were doing. Later that night we got back to work and I finished up the underpainting.
Day 2 was a blur of non-stop painting, coffee and music. I painted the head and hands and began working on the bead work. I borrowed every blue and turquoise he had and mixed them up to get more variety than I might’ve had otherwise.
Day 3 was really a half-day as I flew out early that evening. But at the end of it I was most of the way through, though I had more beads to paint. And that was that for this painting, because upon returning home I had to get going on other projects.
A few months later I pulled it out again and worked on it some more. Immediately I was unhappy with the value structure, which was too focused on the filigree in the headdress, too stark. So I repainted the background, and then did a little more work on the skin tones to adjust. Then it went back in the drawer for awhile longer, since I was working on it in and around projects still. The next time I had an opportunity, I pulled it out and just finished up the beads finally.