Homage to Magritte

The time between the holidays and my March trip to Nashville was not completely idle. As part of a fundraiser, I had the manikin head of a youth to decorate in some fashion for an auction. My first thought was of a young man, his head in the clouds with an unknown future full of possibilites. As I described my idea to a friend, he mentioned Rene Magritte, one of my favorite artists. Clouds are an essential element in many of his paintings and the reference excited me. I began looking at Magritte images online and discovered he had painted four plaster heads made from a cast of Napoleon's death mask. I found three of them and all were blue heads with white clouds. That sealed it for me.

First I painted the head blue - probably ten times - until I finally got the color I wanted. Then I began painting - first the face, then around to the side, the back, the other side and back to the face. Once I made the full revolution, I discovered that the clouds on the face no longer made sense with the ones on the last side. So, I started again - front to side to back to side, with a few zigzags in the process. I don't know how many times I painted around that head, at least seven and maybe more. Each time the paint got thicker and stayed wet longer. If I had not had a deadline to submit the head, I would still be painting round and round. So I made an arbitrary decision to complete where I was and stop. I mounted the head on a slab of black walnut and sent it out into the world.

Lesson learned: I do not want to make a habit of painting in the round. It is amazingly difficult and that possibility had never entered my head when I started. At the same time, thinking in three dimensions like a sculptor is comfortable for me, as I began my foray into art by sculpting. So who knows - lesson learned but maybe having learned it I can do it again - better than the first time!