Happy New Year!
Happy 2010! I finally got a better photo of the painting in progress — if you’d like to see higher res images, click here (opens a separate page).
I made some small progress over the holidays, not much. I worked on the self-portrait section, and the homeless man. I feel like it’s slowly creeping toward completion. This is often the phase where I slow down — the closer it gets to the end, the harder it is to keep going. It’s like those nightmares where you walk down a hallway but the end keeps stretching farther away. I hesitate more, lose myself in doubt. The painting is just so … specific. It’s no longer a sketch that’s filled with potential. It’s congealing into the final product that I’ll have to live with. Like a child growing up, I can’t make any more changes once it’s done; and I’m not sure I made all the right choices.
Well, there’s still a lot to be done. So I’ll keep on painting …
Mags!! I love this! I have so many questions though – do you mind if i ask a few? The family by the shed with the suitcases – is that you, andy & your mom & dad? why do you have suitcases? also the images of the person (looks like you) lying down (it’s to the left of the paining) then someone is pulling you up & so on .. what does that mean? what made you paint that? One more question too – the images of you (three of you) the one of the left where you have your hand on your face – what’s that mean too? K – i hope you don’t mind me asking all these questions – i just LOVE this painting & i love to know what comes to you to have you put this on canvas!!!! love ya … micki
Great questions, Micki — you know, I never know exactly what something means when it comes out into the painting. I try not to question or define it too much. I actually started out painting that family with suitcases as a way to symbolize all the people who were forced into homelessness last year because of the economy. But it ended up looking more like me and my family after our house burned down (when I was 9). The figures to the left of my self-portrait are more abstract — it’s just about conflict and struggle in general. The three heads on my self-portrait all symbolize different aspects of me, how I look at the world — sometimes with hope and spiritual confidence, sometimes with curiosity and the impulse to create and record, sometimes with despair. They all balance each other out.
Hope that helps! — Maggie