Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 8” x 10”
So much for taking it easy after my operation. The painting you see here may prove to be what is known in artistic parlance, as a "unique" - a unicorn, dodo bird, an Ivory-billed woodpecker, the last of its kind. I don't know what possessed me to undertake such a painting other than my love of motorcycles and needing to ramp up the wow factor after my being away from the easel. Do I like this painting? Most definitely. Would I do another one? I'm not sure. Although I am delighted with the finished product, the application of paint was tedious; observe, mix, dab, repeat. No subtle glazes and bravado brushwork, merely precise placement of just the right color. Wearing an opti-visor and using 1/8th inch filberts and a lining brush is really not my thing. I am and have always been about the creative process, not necessarily the final product. If the process is good the resulting product will follow suit. Perhaps that is why I like painting people and animals. There is room for the brush to interpret. Maybe painting inanimate objects isn't in me. I have always been a figure and portrait painter. I like my work looking back at me as I go along. OK, maybe oysters don't exactly gaze out of the canvas, but you get my drift. So enjoy the Harley. Which is all I can do with my own Harley - look at it, as I am not allowed to lift it off the side stand for another 4 weeks. I couldn't have had my appendix out in the dead of winter.
