Drill = Kill

I’ve begun working with distressed paint because I hope to teach a course in mixed media at Lighthouse Center for the Arts in Tequesta, Florida this coming winter. This is one of two paintings I’ve completed, shooting step by step as I worked in order to make a PowerPoint presentation to use in class. The artwork is made of layers of acrylic, tempera, oil crayon, tape, photographs and type printed from my computer. I’ve also shot the painted layers with the intent to use them in future digital mixed media work as well. In some cases I paint into the photographs before copying them into the computer, and printing them out for use in the distressed painting. In the future I plan to do some transfer of photos from magazines onto paper using lighter fluid as the transfer medium, then burying those pictures under layers of paint. Origination of the technique was based on inspiration of layered painted walls in Mexico. Those walls with posters beneath the layers of paint were historical records of a sort, and I loved their appearance. My paintings are hopefully also historical recordings of a particular location in place and time.

This particular mixed media artwork also has obvious political purpose, as it expresses my opinion - based in part on the disastrous Gulf Oil Spill of 2010 - that the “Drill Baby Drill” mantra needs to be rethought at the very least. At best, we need to repurpose our entire energy infrastructure to make the most of reusable energy sources like wind and solar. As such, I hope that the mixed media artwork along with the water related pastels and photomontages will be part of a future exhibit to make money for the Worldwide Fund for Nature, the Nature Conservancy, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and / or other not for profit organizations involved in protecting mother nature’s infrastructure from mankind’s abuses.