Thursday, September 10, 2009

a crazy creative idea

I've mentioned before that the great American expressionist painter Jackson Pollock has been a huge influence on my abstract expressionist paintings. There are several of his works that I really like, but one in particular has stood out for me over the years. It's called "Male & Female". Today I painted my own version of that painting...but not on canvas...on one of the walls in my art studio!
I got this crazy creative idea a month ago when film director John Hughes passed away. John was the creative mind behind many of the teenage angst movies we high schoolers of the 80's connected with...movies that starred actors we affectionately called "The Brat Pack". After his death I spent a couple of days watching some of those movies and being nostalgic high school and the 80's. One movie in particular, "Some Kind of Wonderful", became a favorite of mine (on so many levels). It was about a guy who wanted to be an artist who had a drum playing tomboy as a best friend. Both characters struggled emotionally as to where their place in life was to be....and in the end they found true love and acceptance with each other. But I digress...
The artist had this painting on the back of his bedroom door. The entire door. And it when I rewatched the movie and saw that in the scene...I knew what I needed to do. Today I did more than paint a door...I painted a wall. And with each stroke I thanked God for blessing me with this crazy creativity inside of me that can't be squelched. This wall in my studio is a tribute to Jackson Pollock...but also to Some Kind of Wonderful...a chance to hope and dream and be who we really are.....glorious in the sight of God!

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