The Moon in Her Eye

~A little different, a little experimental. I enjoyed painting this and worked slowly, which is different for me. I would love some feedback.  I usually have a lot going on in my mind when I paint and so here is a bit of what the painting is about.  Come check her out in person, but don’t wait that long to visit us!  Contact TECAC for any sales inquiries.

     The Narrative… While reading about evolution and cave paintings, I saw images of animals both haunting and amazingly realistic. Then there was one photo of a rounded shape filled in with color except where a hand had been placed ~ the theory being this was the artist’s “signature”.  I placed my hand in that echo and it matched exactly. Exactly! It gave me chills.  I thought about how someone created those animal images and figured it probably had a lot to do with memorizing from when they actually saw them.  For me, that was a huge connection as this is extremely similar to my own way of painting.  I decided to paint my black lab, Jezebel, with these thoughts in mind.  She is very much my muse and a kind of totem. I have painted and drawn her many times.  She is ten years old now and that seemed to affect this painting a lot.  Age and wisdom and time itself.  The moon in her eye is full and soon will wane.  The sun is glowing red and soon will set.  She has watched over me since she was too little to even know she was doing it.  She does so even now, though she is starting to age past being able to do much about it.  I was looking for that something which is a little somber, something unspoken and unknown that to me, is much like the beauty of the cave paintings.
     The Technical Mumbo Jumbo… I painted this figure in oils on 40" x 30" canvas, loosely and from memory. I used the thickness of the paint to create a physical sense of depth. I like to play with and challenge movement and composition, and so I feel the flat red and large textured figure balance very well by the absolutely miniscule house with its glowing window and all that surrounding negative space.  The drips are part of texturing and creating the mood I was after. Much of the white is actual canvas, much like a watercolor, and I did in fact, outline my own hand aiming it somewhere over Jezebel’s heart.