Acrylic on 140lb Aquarelle watercolor paper
First day in a series with people as the subject. This painting was inspired by the music video for the song "Miss Murder" by AFI. The video has a lot of very striking images and I love the look of the lead singer however this is NOT a painting of him but rather the end result of the inspiration. Here is a link to the video on Spike TV:
I can't really describe this process very well. Sometimes when I watch something that has a lot of really awesome visuals it seems to stimulate my mind to create similar uses of light, action or feelings. One of the movies that will always stick in my mind is Batman with Michael Keaton directed by Tim Burton. Even 20 years later (holy crap Batman!) I still remember how dark it was visually. It seemed like the majority of the movie was shot at night and everything was black and form was shown by the highlights. There was very little mid tones. It just stuck with me all these years. It was so powerful.
I suppose that is what being an artist is all about. Being inspired, sometimes by everyday things, to create something that brings out that emotion in others. No, on second thought that's not right. It is more like the everyday thing fills the artist with such emotion that the urge is overwhelming to release that emotion into the world through their art.
Now that made me think. A lot of the paintings that I create do not come from that emotional inspiration. Most of the time I paint subjects merely because I think they might sell. Maybe for the new year I should focus more on what inspires me emotionally rather than worrying so much about being popular and successful. Maybe I should find a way to do both.
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