Sunday, January 22, 2017

A MESSAGE TO YOU, JJ


If I can paraphrase the Specials.  Even tho I don't think they wrote that one...

Dude, go for it!  Start painting and posting what you do.
I knew a couple of excellent watercolorists pack in the day, but watercolors were always beyond me.  Too much subtlety and control needed.  Hell, most painting is beyond me.  I can draw and do the pastel thingy, but i seem to lack the patience for brushwork.  I love that thick, quality watercolor paper, though.  Excellent stuff.


My first five years’ worth of work was all sold, given away or destroyed.  I think I have 2 paintings left from those days.  I did, I think, only about 3 painting in the next 15 or 20 years, 1 sold, 1 kept, 1 trashed. When I decided to start painting again last summer (don’t know what I was thinking), my materials sat around for about 3 months before I finally picked up a brush and started something.  3 paintings survive of my first dozen or so attempts, and 2 of those are only because Dawn likes them.  Even this new series has been a struggle, 3 of the 4 finished pieces are actually salvage jobs, probably have 3 or 4 false starts a piece buried beneath the final image.
Words I can make do what I want.  Acrylic paint, not so much.

Specials Message to You Rudy single cover.jpg

2 comments:

J.J. Campbell said...

i haven't done any work with the watercolors in years. i tended to be a little abstract with them, mostly just little drops on paper and let them run. i can't draw worth a shit, so i always figured just close my eyes and fuck it, someone might think it's art.

john sweet said...

Abstract art rocks. It's the great leveler. From what I've seen, I can draw better than Pollock, but the dude's paintings (at his height) blow mine out of the water. I shifted towards writing because it was cheaper and I seemed better at it. In art, I have to struggle to keep things minimal. Too much paint, and I fuck everything up.