"Blue", a 24 x 48 inch acrylic on canvas, was inspired by a photo shoot I did with a model for a photo essay book I self-published on blurb.com titled "The Letter." The shoot dealt with my model, Scott, receiving a "Dear John" letter when he gets home from the office and the subsequent downward spiral he gets into during and after reading the letter. The book ends with Scott sleeping in bed with the crumpled letter, a glass, and an almost empty bottle of whiskey on the nightstand. Several images in the shoot stood out to me as having an emotional impact on their own. "Blue" is one of these images. The pose suggests resignation and the intentional absence of the head in the painting lets the viewer feel the scene simply by observing body position. The painting title has a double meaning in that, while the painting represents Scott's emotional struggles, the color of his briefs also align with the title.
A challenge I set for myself in this painting was to paint the entire image without the use of black paint. The majority of the darks in this painting were achieved with a mixture of alizarin crimson and hookers green. Other complementary colors were also used in other areas for the darks.
This painting was recently exhibited in the Anderson Arts Center's (Kenosha, WI) Annual Winter Juried Competition
