This is my very first abstract painting. It has quite a story. It was created in my garage/art studio at my house in Beaumont upon returning from yet another summer in Europe, getting ready to start the semester (barf) and taking stock of my life. At that point I was a tenured Associate Professor and I had a pretty nice life but I didn’t like it and I was trying out different things in order to fix it. That summer I had enrolled in a challenging three-week yoga teacher training in Ibiza, only to quit a week in because I didn’t really want to be a yoga teacher. I had also visited a friend in Italy and bought a small Winsor and Newton watercolor case then regretted it because my efforts with it were clumsy at best. Little did I know it would eventually become my best friend.
The morning I faced this canvas in my studio in Beaumont things looked rather bleak and pointless. I was playing with acrylics and glue. I was also drinking chicory because I was trying to give up coffee (why??? 😳). I had the mother of all headaches.
I drew a primitive horse and some fish with thick glue onto the canvas. At that point I was trying to avoid drawing anything more complex. The journey of acquiring this skill and discipline was before me still.
I was angry at the world, unhappy to be back in Beaumont, unhappy that school was starting, unhappy with a morning without coffee. I threw the stupid chicory at the canvas. The splashes were kinda fun. I decided to mix acrylics with water and do kind of the same thing. I played with these liquid effects for days. The painting ended up looking very raw and alive, the primitive horse surrounded by fish super fun.
The retail value of this painting is $1,800. Bidding starts at $600 with minimum bid increments of $50. Please enter all bids as comments on this post (below). Bidding concludes at 8pm CST.
