The idea for this came from my People of the Land series. As I was painting it, I started to feel that the muse was whispering other influences right into my mind. The colours are more African inspired, and the figures feel like some traditional Cuban or Dominican folk pain tings I’ve seen in markets there.
There are close to a hundred coats of paint on this one, arm out entirely applied with pallet knives. Alternating layers of matte and glossy goats seems to have helped me build up depth and contours.
I was uncertain of the green at first, and found myself alternating coats between dark Forrest greens, chromium oxide green, olive green, and light greens. As I built up the layers, I found myself making it darker and darker, which allowed me to pull the walkers out in contrast. Originally in a bleached titanium, and build up to parchment white. The overall effect feels much heavier than my usual figures and I like that. Even the walking sticks went through several colour changes until settling with this black stick and silver head configuration.
I couldn’t decide on the sky, and I switched from lavenders and oranges, to the ox-blood red you see here. I needed a strong contrasting colour to go with the green. mountains below.
The overall process took about five months to complete.
Dimensions: W – 55″(139.7cm) x H – 22″(55.88cm) x 1″(2.54cm)
Available to own: $1000 (plus shipping and Handling)
The New Renaissance Mindset 