Untamed Land

Untamed Land
Untamed Land

Friday, December 16, 2011

Entering a Second Childhood

The painting above is my version of the central part of a Medieval Russian, astrological chart that I found in an old book. I painted the sun and the moon as children. The moon sleeps while the sun is out. They were completely different in the original woodcut. All the symbols are my own little concoctions, and have no astrological meanings. I painted it on a scrap of white cardboard. It's called, The Ballad of the Sun and Moon, after an old Alejandro Escobedo song. It will never sell, and probably never become a t-shirt, but who cares?
Another version of the same painting that I'm toying with, using my photo editing program. It's all part of my entrance into my second childhood. Moving to Alaska must have been my mid-life crisis, so this has to be my second childhood.
When I was a young artist, I experienced an obsessive creativity that drove me day and night. Ideas would rush over me, and cause me to work at a frenetic pace, trying to get them down on paper or canvas.
Over the years, things slowed down until I gradually started to experience a stifling burn-out. That is more or less the state that I have existed in for the past 5 or 6 years. The slow down in the art market only fed my apathy.
Just since I started thinking about getting back into t-shirt designs, I have been experiencing a resurgence of that old passion for art. The ideas are plagueing me again, almost non-stop. It's a phase. It will pass, but it feels good in the meantime. Is it my second childhood?
This is an old painting that has been stowed away for years. This is an interesting house that I saw in Angangueo, Mexico. I'm certain to try many different kinds of artwork like this one, in an effort to break out of the stranglehold that age and experience have upon me.
Several years ago, I did a series of black and white paintings, like the Dall Rams above. Like the Angangueo house painting, these got stowed away as well.
another in the series.
Another one as well. I have a bunch of other things I intended to post, but I've got to get back to work.

1 comment:

tess stieben said...

On the level, I believe the sun moon would be great for a t-shirt. I also believe the black and white eagle image would sell nicely. Personally when I choose t-shirts for my men folk I go with N. American critters. a few summers back I was looking at some nice printed shirts but did not buy any as they were African wildlife and, well, I am an all-round Kanata gal. Hugs and best of luck on the photoshop learning.