Repost: Day 2
Stephen Eidson • May 1, 2020
Day 2. Your Own Beat
After deciding to paint in my sketchbook, I needed to figure out a direction.
Before the quarantine, I considered painting boxers referenced from life. I’ve always enjoyed sketching boxers and wild animals. Historical likenesses have to come from somewhere and the pieces didn’t always feel as fresh to me using a photo heavily ingrained in the public consciousness.
I contacted my closest legitimate looking gym asking if I might come in and take photos for art reference…and was stonewalled. I felt a bit deflated because I was excited about the idea of figures in motion being a variable in new work.
Ultimately, it was for the best as a family situation arose that would have not meshed well with being too far from home. I pursued other ideas including the painting in the lower left of the Day 1 post, a way to encompass a scrapped comic short story about Sonny Liston.
I had used multiple frames from the Louis/ Marciano fight film for another comic (first image). This was nothing new. I had used this same approach with other films in the past, but thinking about these put me down that path again for the sketchbook.
While painting, I had also switched from podcasts back to music. Podcasts are a great way to semi- substitute conversations you’re missing holed up making art. However, the vibrancy of music is rocket fuel in my painting tank. I had been listening to all of Fishbone’s albums on VERY heavy rotation (“Nutmeg” off of Chim Chim had become my pre-paint hype music) and revisited the documentary Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone because of it.
I decided to do portraits of the original band members as a thank you. I began with founder/bassist Norwood Fisher (second image). I was using a straight forward portrait approach based off of the interview segments until I came to the fifth member, Kendall Jones (third image). I preferred the more remote pose and painted that. Original drummer and Norwood’s brother, Phillip “Fish” Fisher (fourth image), was the sixth and last member to paint. However, he was only featured in archival footage. I decided to use an old concert.
After painting it, I realized I had backed into that sense of motion I was looking for.
CONSOLATION PRIZES
Analytics show the site visits for the website are good but that most folks found it from Instagram so blog visits aren't strong. It's good to occasionally drop some kind of record of ongoings here even if it's not well seen. What have I been up to? Primarily smaller paintings like the one above where I reference music or, films that resonate with me. The above is Lee Marvin's version of Richard Stark's (aka Donald Westlake) Parker character.
I've once again neglected this blog for Instagram and Facebook. Reasonable enough I suppose since I'm not sure how many readers of this blog there are. What I should not have allowed to happen is getting very behind on updating the website with current work. That has been corrected. Find it within!
As been my habit of the past year, I've allowed my Instagram account to take the forefront as the record of what I've been up to on a weekly basis. So i'm caught playing catch up again. Above is the most recent larger scale piece I've done. It's a portrait of our daughter in younger days in one of her more spirited poses and uses the brass ring symbol I began using in the last series. Below are some other pieces that were intended as tributes to people who made my days easier.
I was informed on the 11th of this month that not only was my piece, Unrequited, showing at the beautiful (take a look above for yourself) Callanwolde Fine Arts Cente r from that day until April 9th but also juror Peter Ferrari selected me for a solo exhibition. I am excited and grateful to be given this opportunity by Mr. Ferrari and Callanwolde and look forward to making the most of it. I posted the day of the announcement on my linked social media because that's where I believe most of my posts are read. However, since I set up this blog I should be posting here as well. Apologies for my negligence and for lifting Callawolde's official photo from their site.
It's been a very long time since I've posted on the web blog. I'm not entirely convinced it's being read, but I'll post to keep myself honest. Haha. Since last post I've painted several more portraits, the entirety of which can be seen on Instagram. I've curated the portrait section, replaced some old ones and added new favorites. Also, I can announce that the above piece, Unrequited, will be on display as part of the juried member show at the Hudgens Center for the Arts beginning this Saturday, November 14 through January 30. So very nice to be back in galleries again. Please come and see the show if you are able.
Sadly we lost the great Ennio Morricone this week. He will be missed but we are incredibly fortunate to still have his music. Six new portraits can be found in the section including this one of Rose Stone. Also new: Fred Wesley, Sam Gooden, Fred Cash and Cynthia Robinson.
Freshening up this blog with another reminder that, while this feed may be quiet, I'm keeping busy on Instagram making portraits. This is the most recent, but I added eight new ones in the portrait section.
Realized I forgot to repost this one after I finished the Facebook post on Sunday. Here it is in all it's glory (or lack thereof): Day 7. The measuring stick This is it. My final day of the seven-day process challenge. I talked about why we shouldn’t hold ourselves to the idea of perfection on day 5. What happens when we look at our art heroes through the prism of perfection? All of their work is amazing, they do forty highly skilled drawings in an hour that are better than one drawing we could do in forty hours. If you let it, that intimidation will nourish the little devil at the back of your mind making it twice as hard to turn out something satisfying before you’ve even begun the work. The great Teddy Atlas often talks about a point where you can see two exhausted boxers making a silent pact to not put out much effort and how something similar happens to all of us when we go down this road mentally. You decide you’ll never get there, or everything you do looks like garbage. It could make you happy IF there wasn’t any point in trying. You burn more energy feeding that self-loathing and finding reasons to avoid those feelings of disappointment than you ever possibly could have actually making art. To make it worse you burn up even more energy hating yourself for ducking out on making art, but it really feels like you’re giving it all… because you have. You just gave it all to the wrong things. You can lose years of your life to this. If it remotely sounds like I know what I’m talking about here, I do. I never stopped making art, but I really fed that beast for far too long. I’m not currently bullet proof by any means. I still get intimidated when I approach comics because I feel like I’ve still got so much to learn, but time is precious and I’m looking at it speed by. I’m choosing the paths that feel most right for me at the moment and that is all I can do. I have kids to guide and I want to be the best example for them that I can. I may be well past the expiration date of getting where I always dreamed of, but I’m still here and I’d rather go out fighting for it than live in that silent resignation. If you’re there, please do the same. Make work. Start as big as life allows. At any speed you can handle, but commit to it. Recognize when you’re making unnecessary excuses and do your best to change. Forgive your mistakes. Let your own progress be the only measuring stick you use. Thanks to anyone that took the time to read this. I know there are plenty of things on the internet vying for your attention and I’m flattered if you chose my ramble to give some of it to. Here’s the link again to the work that prompted this challenge: https://www.instagram.com/eidsonart/
Analytics show the site visits for the website are good but that most folks found it from Instagram so blog visits aren't strong. It's good to occasionally drop some kind of record of ongoings here even if it's not well seen. What have I been up to? Primarily smaller paintings like the one above where I reference music or, films that resonate with me. The above is Lee Marvin's version of Richard Stark's (aka Donald Westlake) Parker character.
I've once again neglected this blog for Instagram and Facebook. Reasonable enough I suppose since I'm not sure how many readers of this blog there are. What I should not have allowed to happen is getting very behind on updating the website with current work. That has been corrected. Find it within!
As been my habit of the past year, I've allowed my Instagram account to take the forefront as the record of what I've been up to on a weekly basis. So i'm caught playing catch up again. Above is the most recent larger scale piece I've done. It's a portrait of our daughter in younger days in one of her more spirited poses and uses the brass ring symbol I began using in the last series. Below are some other pieces that were intended as tributes to people who made my days easier.
I was informed on the 11th of this month that not only was my piece, Unrequited, showing at the beautiful (take a look above for yourself) Callanwolde Fine Arts Cente r from that day until April 9th but also juror Peter Ferrari selected me for a solo exhibition. I am excited and grateful to be given this opportunity by Mr. Ferrari and Callanwolde and look forward to making the most of it. I posted the day of the announcement on my linked social media because that's where I believe most of my posts are read. However, since I set up this blog I should be posting here as well. Apologies for my negligence and for lifting Callawolde's official photo from their site.
It's been a very long time since I've posted on the web blog. I'm not entirely convinced it's being read, but I'll post to keep myself honest. Haha. Since last post I've painted several more portraits, the entirety of which can be seen on Instagram. I've curated the portrait section, replaced some old ones and added new favorites. Also, I can announce that the above piece, Unrequited, will be on display as part of the juried member show at the Hudgens Center for the Arts beginning this Saturday, November 14 through January 30. So very nice to be back in galleries again. Please come and see the show if you are able.
Sadly we lost the great Ennio Morricone this week. He will be missed but we are incredibly fortunate to still have his music. Six new portraits can be found in the section including this one of Rose Stone. Also new: Fred Wesley, Sam Gooden, Fred Cash and Cynthia Robinson.
Freshening up this blog with another reminder that, while this feed may be quiet, I'm keeping busy on Instagram making portraits. This is the most recent, but I added eight new ones in the portrait section.
Realized I forgot to repost this one after I finished the Facebook post on Sunday. Here it is in all it's glory (or lack thereof): Day 7. The measuring stick This is it. My final day of the seven-day process challenge. I talked about why we shouldn’t hold ourselves to the idea of perfection on day 5. What happens when we look at our art heroes through the prism of perfection? All of their work is amazing, they do forty highly skilled drawings in an hour that are better than one drawing we could do in forty hours. If you let it, that intimidation will nourish the little devil at the back of your mind making it twice as hard to turn out something satisfying before you’ve even begun the work. The great Teddy Atlas often talks about a point where you can see two exhausted boxers making a silent pact to not put out much effort and how something similar happens to all of us when we go down this road mentally. You decide you’ll never get there, or everything you do looks like garbage. It could make you happy IF there wasn’t any point in trying. You burn more energy feeding that self-loathing and finding reasons to avoid those feelings of disappointment than you ever possibly could have actually making art. To make it worse you burn up even more energy hating yourself for ducking out on making art, but it really feels like you’re giving it all… because you have. You just gave it all to the wrong things. You can lose years of your life to this. If it remotely sounds like I know what I’m talking about here, I do. I never stopped making art, but I really fed that beast for far too long. I’m not currently bullet proof by any means. I still get intimidated when I approach comics because I feel like I’ve still got so much to learn, but time is precious and I’m looking at it speed by. I’m choosing the paths that feel most right for me at the moment and that is all I can do. I have kids to guide and I want to be the best example for them that I can. I may be well past the expiration date of getting where I always dreamed of, but I’m still here and I’d rather go out fighting for it than live in that silent resignation. If you’re there, please do the same. Make work. Start as big as life allows. At any speed you can handle, but commit to it. Recognize when you’re making unnecessary excuses and do your best to change. Forgive your mistakes. Let your own progress be the only measuring stick you use. Thanks to anyone that took the time to read this. I know there are plenty of things on the internet vying for your attention and I’m flattered if you chose my ramble to give some of it to. Here’s the link again to the work that prompted this challenge: https://www.instagram.com/eidsonart/