In October last year I was involved in an exhibition by the Arterial Collective; a group that brings unknown local artists into the public eye. I had recently received some scrap pine from a friend and had just finished my first painted piece ever, which was basically an experiment in combining painting with illustration. At first I wasn't sure about it, but it's grown on me. It is a milestone; my first painting ever completed. It is a self portrait of some sort, but I really didn't give much thought as to what was happening in the image... It has the lyrics to 'I Touch Myself' by The Divinyls in the banners. It was done on pine with diluted acrylics/gouche (because I don't know anything about painting), pens and copic markers. About 25 inches high by 8 inches wide. For sale.
"Pubic Maze"
"Pubic Maze" detail
The next piece is the other painting I completed for the Arterial Collective. It's still the biggest painting I've ever done, and like "Pubic Maze" it is a milestone. For the first painting I kept it simple in content and colour so I could recognize where I was meant to add the ink afterwards. This second piece I went all out and tried to make it as complex as I could without the ink-work laid down, but after painting it became limited to just inking around the paint. It's maybe something I need to learn to do; to paint then ink, then paint and ink again and again and again. It was based on a photograph from a nature magazine, and features the lyrics to Missy Elliot's 'Work It' in the banners. Diluted acrylic/gouche, pens, and copic markers on the rough side of a plank of pine.
"Work-It"
"Work-It" detail
