Fresh Airless

My son saw me painting all these astronauts in scenes--that I found amusing--on the moon, and it occurred to him that an astronaut should be cast in my role--as the artist. Upon hearing that, contrary to how we grown-ups are reflexively inclined to dismiss children's "silly ideas," I paused and thought, "That's a good idea!"

Now he's beaming, and I have another image rendered.

I remember reading in art magazines of artists painting en plein air in unusual locations all over the world. For example, painting in Antarctica stands out as the most extreme and is seemingly the most analogous to what I'm depicting here. Like most of my art ideas, this one, too, just seemed possible.

Painting Outside

8" x 13"
oil on canvas

Process...

I took pictures of my son, simulating the pose of painting outdoors. I then sketched in the scene with burnt umber, onto an "umber-stained" canvas. I then proceeded to paint in the sky (i.e., space), Earth, moon, and astronaut--in that order, in a kind of rough, kind of flat, way. I mention that I paint "in that order," so that each major component is "on" the previous component, making the scene blend together. After these layers were fairly dry, I went back over them with greater detailing. Much of the work going into a picture like this is invented, as it were, on the fly. That is, how Earth is "supposed" to look, how the lunar landscape is "supposed" to look, and so forth are what I think of as idealized ingredients, so as to keep the attention on the main idea. The craters are always the most difficult, what with the ellipses and reasonably believable shadows. By contrast, whenever I paint Earth, I always expect it to be a chore and to be difficult, but it's surprisingly fun--painting the swirly clouds over the picture's deepest blue. Oh yeah, I also throw in stars to enhance the aesthetic and complement the scene. I like to think stars don't draw attention away from "believability," despite the fact that they generally would not be seen. 

If you'd like to get even closer to this picture (*ahem*...☺), you're invited to click here where you can see it (and more).

Just Thought It Was Cool

Very simply, I love fusing two ideas together such that the result is engaging, clever, compelling, and, dare I say it, cool. Yeah, I know my use of the word "cool" might be a little presumptuous, buuut, when you inject the Bride of Frankenstein--and monster--into the dance scene of the iconic powerhouse that is Pulp Fiction, it's hard not to pat myself on the back for coolness.

"Pulp Frankenstein"

10" x 20"

oil on canvas

Process...

In making the piece, I simply took some of the most famous poses of Uma Thurman's character Mia Wallace and John Travolta's character Vincent Vega in the dance sequence and superimposed the classic horror movie characters. I sketched it out on paper and then projected this drawing onto a canvas, drawing with an oil-based pencil. I proceeded with a basic underpainting with acrylic paint. The color I used was raw sienna. By "basic," I mean I painted in the contour elements and did a very rough depiction of values--largely just to hold my "road map" in place. After maybe an hour (to let it dry), I proceeded in a quasi-alla prima rendering, taking a couple days to get it done. 

And by all means, I invite you to get a closer look at Art by Jason Marsh.