Not too long ago I wrote about a pencil drawing that inspired a few more sketches and a few other ideas. It ended up being a three way interpretation of the same image. I played around with four or five more sketches and then decided to paint. After an amazing private painting night with the ladies of the Orange CT Chamber of Commerce I thought I could use the leftover paint on a few canvases I had available here at home. It was a lot of fun to paint again. Before arriving to the image that started it all I used another sketch for the first painting, then another for a second. The third painting was using that first sketch. I called the three paintings together “Spring Fairies”.
The first one has the extra long hair. It was a lot of fun adding all that extra paint around the figure. I tried to keep the figure as monochromatic as I could. Based on this result I decided to paint the other two on longer canvases I wanted to recycle. That’s something you maybe didn’t know. When people talk about the mysteries of Leonardo’s multilayered paintings I just laugh. Sometimes, not to say many times, I paint over paintings I don’t like that much, and over again. I can’t wait until someone decides to x-ray one of them. Nevertheless, I covered the previous paintings and continued the fairies. The third one was inspired on the pencil sketch. There is a sequence of the process in Instagram and Facebook. I didn’t stop there. I tried a sculpture with the same sketch. After all, I am a sculptor primarily.
It is interesting how one image can get multiple interpretations. I can still try a full round sculpture. Someone might think about trying a more modern art version of it. Maybe we can create a cubist version or something more abstract. The possibilities are endless. That is the beauty of art and the human mind.
Bobby Whitaker
Dr Ivan Tirado