Masochism, Hotdogs and a Higher Authority...

Black and white line so I don't lose it in the painting!

Don't tell me artists aren't self-destructive. I just scoffed down two hotdogs ( they're Hebrew Nationals and answer to a higher authority though that probably won't help me now... ) with jalapenos, onions and mustard plus a pot of coffee. I am thinking about going for more.

Why... you ask?

This poster, shown above, is about where it now needs to be. The last time I pulled out the paints was this time last year. It is one thing to draw or sketch subject matter, but it is another matter when you are applying color to represent reality with a tool that best represents a stick with some hair glued to it. So, painting this poster can only be stalled by eating masses amounts of crap until I get so disgusted I either go to sleep or deal with my demons and start slinging some paint.

But how do I sling it? Should I use oil or acrylic. What about the backgrounds? They'd be better accomplished in acrylic, but it has been too long since I rendered people in that medium. Where's my acrylic retarder? It's probably a brick by now! I don't have a clear picture of how it all should look and I hate that! It should free me up, but it doesn't or hasn't yet. Simple requests from the client have messed with my preconceived idea of how it all should look. What should my palette be? Greens, aqua to blue drifting downward? Team colors of the polo player is green. Should I incorporate the green with the other two Mardi Gras colors and add it to the rainbow or would that freak the client out? Should the rainbow melt into the bayou or should it just be cut at nine o'clock with a hard line? How's the woman gonna fade into the background if she is not wearing black? Why would she be wearing black in the middle of a spring day? What about rim lighting on the circular clouds and what color... green? Yuck!

Damn, I hate that hand! And the woodpecker hole has become a strange tangent to the flying bird. Why didn't I see that originally? And, I'm not gonna render those polo players on their horses... I'm not, I'm not. Just go Bart Forbes on them. Wasn't that your original idea anyway? Geez, why did I offer to do this in the first place... Damn!

I really think I see this in oils... yeh, I've sort got a mental picture. If I use a dryer, it should all be dried by the time it needs to go to print.

If I start... like now.

Maybe first, I'll have just one more artery clogging hotdog!

Copyright 2012/Ben Bensen III