roaming

I know several ways of approaching painting. One is emulating other artist’s style. You may start from the very beginning by imagining that you are that other artist, or you can start like one artist, but then notice that something in your painting reminds you of another and move in that direction eliminating everything, which is not consistent with the style you adhere to.

Another way is preconception, conception, or design. You come up with an intellectual idea, think through the ways of visually, or otherwise, adapting it, and let yourself go through certain length of trial an error.

Another way is surrendering to Muses.  It is sweet but painful, like addiction.

It is not unusual for an artist to mix approaches in their working process.

The portrait of Nicholas Coletta, though, is a pure case of the latter approach.

When we started our session and were communicating, I absentmindedly smeared paint on the Mylar surface, until I forgot what I was doing. Nick of cause was of assistance: he drew my attention inside his vast personality so forcefully that I got totally lost there. Dizziness is one of the indicators of that. To keep from falling, but still maintain mobility, I had to hold on a hinge. That hinge was Nick’s eye, the eye on the right of the picture with the dark white. The other eye I painted super-realistically almost sweet. This contrast, the vary inconsistency of it, was important for creating a mythical landscape. Between these two eyes there was a world where I was roaming, and now, you do too.