Final Count Down - New Painting!

So i've been in some what of a rut lately artistically. I can't seem to shake this "overwhelmed" feeling, and i keep worrying about things like "finishing" all of my half finished work that up all over my house and studio.. My solution? try my hardest to START ANOTHER PAINTING and finish it, undercutting all of the 20 or so other pieces that are patiently collecting dust, waiting to be finished and loved.

Thankfully though, i actually accomplished my task. It's only because i specifically planned my attack with this painting. (a discipline that i dont hold true to very often.) I wanted THIS painting to be a quick loose study of the world in my head, allowing me to focus on movement, composition, and simplicity rather than over-complication, and a huge "murky middle" of the painting(the point in a painting when it becomes less "fun" and more "work" to accomplish what your going after) to deal with.

It took me about 10 hours to complete over a 2 day time period. A few weeks ago i went to Good Will (the bins) on Portland Rd here in Salem, and picked up this old canvas in a nice frame that matched it perfectly, and decided to restretch some new *unripped* canvas material onto this used stretcherbar, and also to repaint the frame black(from an off cream color) with some extra spray paint i had laying around.

A couple of weeks passed before i finally decided to rip out all of the old staples and to remove the ripped oil painting from the stretcher bar. I then proceeded to try out my new electric "heavy duty" staple gun(which doesnt have a safety and therefore can shoot across the room without warning.) to apply my new piece of canvas to the wood.

Keep in mind the only reason im doing this is because i dont actually have any motivation to PAINT anything..

But then for some reason, as i SCRAPED my last bit of Gesso to cover the canvas, inspiration struck! i dont know if the simple fact that an unmolested canvas with a new beginning was now under my direct control, or the music playing from Pandora was just the right fit for my creative juices to freely flow, but i was already off to paint my background. all i knew is that i wanted to paint birds... yes i know.. the painting isn't OF birds.. but thats neither here NOR there at this point.

as i started to lay down the bottom greys and blacks, i started to realize that the composition and overall look of the piece looked like another "post apocalyptic" city scapes but even MORE devistated than usual, so i quickly forgot about the birds and followed my muse.

The literal meaning of birds soon became a figurative statement as soon as the painting was done, complete with spaceships taking off, and lonely stranded survivors watching the last of their fellow men, woman & children take off never to see their destroyed homeland again.

This painting has changed so much from my original idea, i just had to write about the process of its creation! I'm always amazed at how far a painting can take you from your own mind. With the right surroundings and eagerness to expand your mind and abilities, a person can really break through some creative and emotional barriers without even realizing it! I know i just did.

I will be doing more paintings like this, with a "concept art" feel, but also with a rich narrative and full cycle story attached to it. I hope you guys like it! please let me know what your take on the image is, my favorite part of the painting process is to learn what others see in the art, i dont think that to this day, i have ever had anyone see the same thing that i have seen, atleast not fully.

Last but not least, i named it "Final Countdown" because although i dont really LIKE the song, i love the message of the 80's song "The Final Count Down", and wanted that message to be cemented in my art forever.

This painting and print of this painting are available for sale at www.etsy.com/shop/chriswilhelmart

Cheers to creativity and the act of breaking barriers!

Something to share.

Hey guys just saw this on craigslist, i thought it was really interesting and i believe every part of it except for the person's idea of a solution, which unfortunately is a little unrealistic.

"You may think this post doesn't belong on the CL artist section. But it does. It does because art is about commerce, at least in some respects. So this morning I'm watching Good Morning America and one of their guest is a guy called Mort Zuckerman..He is an economist reporting for USA today. He tells the country that the economy sucks and its going to get a lot worse. Gee---ya think that's going to make things better! The dollar is only worth only a minuscule fraction of a cent. Its a piece of paper with a picture of a dead president on it .Its value is entirely based on faith. It buys only what we think it can buy. So people listen to these 'so called experts' and they become afraid. The stock market goes down. People don't spend money Their 401k tanks. People loose jobs. It would be good if you could write your local politician and ask them to put a stop to this negativity ,but that is not their job. Freedom of press and all. However there is something you can do! Politicians cant do this--but we can. Here's a radical thought. TELL THE MEDIA TO STOP BEING SO NEGATIVE ABOUT THE ECONOMY! Email them--Tell them you don't want to see the Mort Zuckermans of the world telling us we have no hope. If GMA reported, lets say "The economic outlook for this year is going to be outstanding"---It would be--- Its all a matter of faith in our fellow human beings Trust me---If we call them, email them,write them with snail mail-- .they will listen If you like this idea, please send it on."


Let me know what you think!

Lets Talk Art

Ok, so from here on out, im going to use this blog NOT ONLY as a way to rant on about my childhood adventures into "the real world", but also as a place to take a break from painting, and to analyze what ever new discoveries i found in the pigment that day.

For what ever reason, i'm loving these buildings i have been painting. Its kind of repetetive, but i can defeat that by making each painting "better" and more intricate than the last. However, i feel that this isn't going to last very much longer. Like the rest of my life, i will soon be off to the next artistic quest.

I've been playing around with different colors lately, always afraid that ill ruin an otherwise good painting. But to my suprise(watch me eat my words next time i paint) i become amazed and impressed by the colors i choose to use together. Although i am using some basic color theory to my advantage, i pretty much just eye ball 2 colors, think ahead to when ill be mixing black, payne's grey, or white into the mix and go for it.... Painting is amazing to me for just that reason.
There are so many factors to be put into the mix, so many options, so much to explore and learn about. It is it's own world.

Soon i will be building very large canvas's and trying something new. i am going to start painting large figures. similar to how David Choe paints but also very different. less masking in the figures, and more rough textures and strange colors. I pretty much cant wait, but im forcing myself to ATLEAST finish 2 or 3 of the 7 or 8 paintings i legitimately want to finish.

Anyway, now that im talking about it, i really want to go paint... So i guess thats what i'll do!

Cheers!

The way i see the world -part 1-

So here’s the scoop,

As a young man(ok I’m still a young man, but back when I was younger) people would talk a lot of shit to me, about various things, “get the fuck out of my way.. Bitch” just because I didn’t move out of the thug’s royal fucking path (which was the middle 6 feet of a 10 foot corridor. I never had many friends that were my own age.(to which my mom said “your too mature for them” whenever I would come home crying or upset). But still, I never knew how or why SO many of us(EVEN ME!!) treat each other with such unnecessary disrespect even before we know that person’s name! And it wasn’t even just Newport, Oregon(where I grew up). Its everywhere! From the television we watch, to the magazines we read, to the way we create wars with bordering nations because we disagree with their POLITICS!?

The way I see it, Politics is a word used to describe another word…. OVER-COMPLICATION!
The human race didn’t start out this way mind you.. Whether or not we came from fish, monkeys, or aliens(lets hope that’s the case because I’m ashamed if I came from such a beautiful planet just to help destroy it slowly but surely), we were a peaceful society(s) killing only what we needed to for US to survive. How did we start out so simple and healthy, so a civilization that actually pays ANY attention to Miley Syrus and JUSTIN BIEBER!!!??? And after watching these people embarrass our entire social structure, we talk shit about them with our family and friends… AND THEN WE TALK SHIT BEHIND EACHOTHER’S BACKS WHEN THEY LEAVE THE ROOM!!

What is wrong with us? Its disgusting. I often say that I would rather spend a day with a girl, than with a guy. This is true for so many reasons.. Most of my friends are woman, because I would rather sit around and do art and crafts(that’s my job after all..) than piss around town with a bunch of angry men who’s only satisfaction in life is to buy a big ass car, and to talk about who he wants to fuck… even though he isn’t even having sex with his wife because there’s NO COMMUNICATION in their relationship!!

The world isn’t that hard to coexist in. and I mean that in an extremely broad way. Why do you think men AND woman have such a hard time communicating with each other? Its because not enough people are honest with each other about how they feel. Either because they are too afraid that the person they are talking to will get too freaked out from their honesty and insult them in some “joking” way, to mask the awkward feeling that’s in place of a healthy relationship, or its because we have all grown up (all of the living generations out there and countless more to come) in a world that tells us if your not tough, your nothing, and to hide what you really feel, and to OVER COMPLICATE everything you can to compensate for what your emotional side is lacking. I don’t know if that makes much sense, but it makes the world go around for me.

One thing we can all do in our daily lives, is give somebody a compliment, or better yet, make a gesture of kindness to someone who you haven’t complimented in awhile. Or to a perfect stranger. I think the benefit of the doubt is being forgotten, to not assume that the person walking past you downtown would kill you if they could get away with it, just for your 20 bucks in your wallet, but to assume that they are just like you, trying to keeps food on the table and to live a comfortable and hopefully simple life. There is nothing more valuable than lasting friendship, and you CAN choose your family!

Peace.