Acrylic and stenciled spray paint on 2? x 3? canvas.
This painting was definitely a sum of its parts not working the first time around. I painted over the figures about three times until I was happy with the tones. Then when I sprayed the red paint for the stencils, I realized I should have sprayed some white down first, as it came off as pretty muddy, especially on the piece in the lower right. I painted over the bird with a light yellow to match tones in the figures, and I was happy with that, but then it felt unbalanced. That was when I added in the abstract element in the upper left, and this seemed to tie it all together.
I was recently talking with my niece about the whole ‘left brain/ right brain’ thing, and this painting seemed to sum it up in both substance and process. The figure on the left (stage right) lives in a vibrant, creative world, while the one on the right (stage left) is in a representational, ordered world. This wasn’t what I intended when I started, but being forced to adapt to situations not working forced my creativity to make it work.
Or something.