Saturday, June 29, 2013

Abraham Lincoln, 2013


Oil on 12"x12" canvas. Maybe one of the most painted people? Lincoln was certainly a great man with an amazing face-a portrait painter's paradise. I began my Lincoln series around election time. Today I decided to change the  background for the third and final time. I am seeking to follow intuitive impulses in painting. After talking with a friend about how to identify our path in painting, I hung up the phone and went straight to this painting and changed the background, not knowing exactly what to do, I trusted something within me knew and I let my intuitive sense lead. Colors suddenly fell back in tone and he began to appear back-lit, the colors became the faded fabric of a circus tent. The circus tent serves as metaphor for life. In this painting I see Lincoln grounded in the midst of insanity. This kind of creative process is one of the things I relish in painting. The whole activity feels balanced as right brain and left brain are valued.

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