Neo-Plastodon

I did this painting in college. I believe it's called Neo-Plastodon. It was named by a fellow student because it looked to her like a dinosaur rising up out of rocks or something. To me, it's one of my most successful paintings. There's alot going on that you can't see here. The entire canvas is covered with gauze and then painted with bright colors. Then I painted over all that with the white and black. Up close, you can see all kinds of subtle color peeking through. The geometric patterns were governed by what the gauze did naturally on the canvas. Someone actually donated a large amount of gauze to the school and no one else wanted it so I decided to experiment with it. I ended up doing several gauze paintings. I sold one to a girl in Pensacola. I hope she still has it. I believe a couple of others are with another old friend in Pensacola. I asked her to store my paintings for me because she had the space and I guess I never asked for them back. Last I heard, she told a mutual friend that she still had them.
This picture of it is pretty terrible but it's the only record I have of the painting. When I lived in Birmingham, I met a fellow artist named Antjuan and we traded paintings. He got this one. The last time I saw him he told me that someone had stolen it but that he knew who did it and he was going to get it back. That cracks me up because the painting is about 6' X 5' and pretty heavy. It's not like you can tuck it into your coat and make off with it.
I really long to paint like this again. Not so much the imagery but just the freedom that a large canvas allows. It's like having a big field to run around in. It's so much fun. Unfortunately, apartment life doesn't allow for these types of expressions so I'll just have to wait until we can get a little more elbow room.