Latest commission just finished. This highly collaborative painting of country singer Eric Church was a blast to paint! Most often when I paint a musician I have their music playing in the background. It really adds another avenue of inspiration contributing to the vibe of each painting. In this case, country music screams Americana hence, the heavy use of red, white, and blue. The collaborative input of the client was to get the flag in the background. The fist in the air gesture of strength and the extremely loose painting style adds to the emotion of this piece.
A side note to the painting style, although I do enjoy painting photo realism, I have more appreciation for the loose approach when painting. Taking in a painting up close and discovering how an artist applied paint on a surface in this case what looks like a random fashion up close. When you stand back, it comes together, makes sense yet, the spontaneity of how the paint was applied breathes energy to the piece. Also up close, the simplicity shows the confidence to reach the end result. In the close up examples you can see that most of the paint was actually applied straight from the can of paint to the surface. There it was mixed with the palette knife to the desired value or hue. Heavy blending where necessary, other areas kept raw.
So much to discover!
