Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Thunder Woman & Great Jay

Thunder Woman has appeared many times now, but Great Jay is new. I think he's showed up at the urging of the scrub jays who keep me as their pet.


I first painted him talking to Snow Kachina, which I'll post when winter returns. Here he & Thunder Woman seem to be reaching some kind of agreement while the swans head north for spring. About halfway into painting this image, I got upset with it. I hated it. Just too tame! I ached for something wilder & messier.


So I took out a bigger piece of paper & painted a closer view, bending spatial reality & flinging paint about. Aaaaaah. Much better.


Then I was able to go back to the first image & very happily complete it.


I'm fascinated by people's reactions to the two paintings.  Some people really like the first image & others love the second. Their reasons revealing aspects of the paintings I didn't see consciously--and themselves! 


Both paintings are on display at Sebastopol Gallery until June 12.