First Painting: Mini Painting/Larger Study

I decided to try out this imagined composition on a smaller canvas before launching into the actual painting.

underpainting and wash layer

The First Painting: Clown Sleeping on Moving Bus

    So I've changed the composition for the first painting, of the sleeping clown, to a scene inside the circus bus that was very familiar to me -- of my music partner sleeping on "the red bed", which was a tiny cot-like thing suspended/hanging from the ceiling of the bus. I have a few photos from in side the bus as stylistic references, but mostly I'll have to go off of what I remember. I'm sure I'll deal with many obstacles in creating the scene from memory, specifically consistent perspective, light, and shadows.

NEW COMPOSITION:

ORIGINAL COMPOSITION:

    I think that might be the most intriguing thing about these images, and the main motive for painting them; simply the fact that I don't have any record of these specific memories, and painting is the only way to recreate them.

    And I guess my real challenge, as Gail Dawson and our T.A. Todd pointed out, is how to portray what it is I am saying about my subject through the way in which it's painted. I need to think of ways to achieve some sort of visual affect in the mark making and texture of the painting that communicates the rugged, worn down, grittiness of transient circus life.

    So I did a few more studies involving texture, just messing around with different textures. They all turned out pretty bold, I think I need to work on creating something subtle that draws the viewer in. I need to simplify my shit! But here they are, nonetheless:

The First Painting: After the Critique

    In a critique of my studies for the project, the point was brought up that clowns, and specifically the idea of "sad clowns", is/are a cliche subject in art. While this criticism is definitely valuable and should be considered when choosing my subjects, it is the clown that I am interested in, not general people in their daily lives. I feel that there is a lot of symbolism that can be assumed about people in general from the image of a clown character as a metaphor, but I personally am more interested in the literal clown and that life style. I'm not some random person who just wants to paint clowns because I think they're cool, I am interested in the subject because of my own personal experience with it. I have a lot of friends who are clowns, and I had a pretty weird experience traveling with a group of circus performers as a musician, and I saw a lot of things that I would have never guessed happened in a circus. My goal is to try to set up some dialogue visually that addresses the sort of devotion and level of obsession among these transient performers. They're all freaks, the lot of 'em, and they're wonderful!

    Anyway, I wanted to get away from the typical sad clown, or even the awesome Edward Hopper clown in a restaurant, where the clowns are in an environment outside of the circus:

Painting by Edward Hopper:

Other TYPICAL "Sad Clown"Paintings

(sad because he can't tell what his real eyebrows are like)

(sad because he pissed himself and he's gonna die alone)

(sad because he is forever immortalized in a shitty sad clown painting... with a dog...)

    On the contrary - I want to show the clown in a circus environment, but not just somewhere being sad and self-loathing, and anywhere near the circus tent - I want to show the hectic circus-like environment that is the life of the traveling performer, and how their character as a performer can be their entire persona. I was thinking about how I could do this, and I decided to pull directly from scenes I remember from my time in circuses, and in traveling with them:

Scenes inside the giant purple circus bus, scenes at gas stations juggling and doing tricks for truckers in exchange for free gas off their company tab, scenes on median strips camping out in sleeping bags between two lanes of traffic, cooking breakfast outside the bus in parking lots, practicing in isolated parks...

Here's some photos I do have, and can use as references:

rigging up the trapeze to the bus for outdoor parade- Portland, OR

running errands on stilts - Portland, OR

Outdoor festival/parade - Portland OR

busking for diesel/gas; large trucker stands on our Eeyore the giant on bed of nails - Olympia, WA

busking near Pike Place Market - Seattle, WA

practicing - Portland, OR

Inside the bus, on the road:

...

30 STUDIES: Idea 1

The first portion of this project involves doing 30 studies - exploring different possible ideas for the series through several miniature paintings, illustrations, and photographs.

IDEA ONE:

Clown Sleeping in Full Costume

Prismacolor pen and graphite pencil:

Acrylic paint on photograph print outs:

Texture Studies

Prismacolor pen and tape:

30 STUDIES: Idea 2

IDEA 2:

Young Aspiring Clown at his Sewing Machine

watercolor and pencil:

Prismacolor pen and graphite pencil:

Paint samples collaged on photograph:

Acrylic paint on photographs:

30 STUDIES: Idea 3

IDEA THREE:

Horse Rider Coming Home

Prismacolor pen and graphite pencil:

pencil:

pencil:

35mm film:

(horse rider taking on characteristics of the horse)