Counting sheep

Normally while I am finishing a piece I am formulating  my next project in my head. Since I need to keep busy, one painting follows another in an endless chain. For this project I am midway through a current painting (commission portrait of Frida Kahlo) and am documenting my ideas for the forthcoming painting in public on this blog. It kind of forces me into a weird spot because once thoughts are typed down they obtain a certain concrete reality that is normally only a shapeless little storm cloud in my head. In that sense, what I write may be miles away from what I paint or may be very faithful to my words. I’ve often wondered how much influence J.K. Rowling’s film versions of her books had on her subsequent stories in the Harry Potter series. It’s kind of a strange notion that someone else’s interpretation of your work could influence your future work. I kind of feel like that’s where I’m at right now because my “literal” self, which is my fictional self since I’m no writer, is informing my “artistic” self. I’m trying to be true to my thoughts as they roll out but finding it difficult to track since I’m not always at a computer and things that may be important may not get recorded. I guess I asked for it….

I think I’ve arrived at a core or central image, the rotting car seems to be stuck in my mind so I will build on it. My “wolf in sheepskin” is starting to force itself on me and the rotting car for that matter. I think the sheep is going to take a prominent position just behind the car. I want the sheep to be animated, not just a skin, as if it still has a perspective on the world in spite of being the shell of the “wolf”.
 
The “wolf’ is now a point of consideration…will it be a literal wolf, figurative wolf or purely symbolic? I think the role of a menacing, threatening entity is the reflexive, obvious response but I also wonder about turning the stereotype upside-down. A sheep in sheep’s clothing?