Making Large Paintings For DARKMATTER

You Can Do This!

I've wanted to make really large paintings for a long time. My studio isn't very big but with the idea of having a show at Creative Pinellas I knew that it would be the best time for me to do it.
I've hung 6ft paintings in the gallery before and they just feel so small due to the great expanse of the space there. My plan was to make paintings that would truly fill the space and make people feel overwhelmed.

My studio is just big enough to lay out a 12x15 foot canvas tarp on the floor with almost no room to move around it. I had to move everything else outside or into storage for the weeks-months it would take to make 
the giant paintings.

I started by creating layers of stains, and scuffs. Latex house paint, coffee, ink, rust, anything that would create an aged and layered look on the surface. From there I began figuring out how to get back 
from the canvas to "see it." I put my paintbrush on a 12 foot stick and stood on a 6 foot ladder. I felt like a conductor up in front of a visual orchestra.

The first painting I made was El Dorado. For me this painting was about two cities that were in conflict. It was a modern take on Sparta and Troy. Each of the towers represented the highest ideals each culture had 
accumulated and though they were nearly identical, neither side could see the commonalities.