This is a much smaller oil painting than my usual but I love it. I wanted to try painting on a black background in oil to figure out what the challenges would be with trying to get correct color adjustment. ie - getting my darks dark enough and the whites BRIGHT.
Anywho, it’s done and my buddy Joel Cooner is letting them hang at his gallery on Dragon Street here in Dallas among his AMAZING collection of antiques, artifacts and insanely well crafted new pieces of sculpture, (Sherry Owens for example) and sculptural functional wood pieces by Michael Wilson…(love, love, love)!
The title, “Waiting” refers to several things. I took a series of photos for this painting over a year ago when visiting my old college roomie and dear friend, Karen Lenahan, she has a floral shop in Easthampton, NY and does LOTS of weddings and events. We were heading out to Montauk and walked into her garage where I spotted her flower cooler which was full of solely white flowers and greenery and it was stunning. They were in there looking lush and ethereal waiting for the upcoming weekend weddings. I knew these would become a painting as soon as I saw them, but due to different diversions and jobs during the intervening year, I had to wait until there was a break.
Then a pretty significant break comes along, AKA: Corona Virus, Covid-19 and BAM…EVERYTHING IS ABOUT WAITING NOW!
…waiting to flatten the curve, waiting to work again, waiting for a check, waiting for a test result, waiting for stores and schools and venues and absolutely everything to open again, waiting to feel safe about going to all those places, waiting to see loved ones and friends in person, waiting to hug someone without being leery of where they may been that could have exposed them to the virus, waiting to travel…
You get the idea, but flowers just can’t wait that long, their bloom is finite and and so are peoples lives and patience. Your eyes see those beautiful things and you know they will not last the week in the same way and they must be appreciated in that moment. So, I paint the beautiful flower and call or write the people I love and hope that when all this waiting is all over- we are still mostly whole and still able to notice the amazing beauty around us.
