Wacky T-Town

 

I made these paintings in March, looking out of the window of Artwell at the rooftop skyline of Torrington.  I drew them out in paint first and I just let them develop as I observed.  I made adjustments and corrections with color as I went on.  I felt really good making them since they are a departure from my usual organic paintings.  I got them home and put them away for a few days (something I always do for perspective).  When I went back to visit them, I saw immediately what I couldn't see before.  The lines were wonky and the buildings seemed to be dancing and built on different planes from each other.  I went back to work and painted a few more times in the same location, carefully drawing out the buildings with a ruler and double checking.   I then looked at the building paintings all together and couldn't make sense of it.  The drawn out ones were nice, and they were all exciting and different, but I couldn't resist the wacky ones.  My eyes always traveled back to them and lingered there longer.  I know it could very well be because they are red...but I think it has more to do with them being the freshest, most honest, and less digested  take on Torrington, a city that is, after all, wacky. 


 On a side-note.  I went to see a Stanley Lewis lecture during my "digestion" period with these paintings and he made some very interesting comments on his own painting and how the eyes see man-made structures/geometry in nature.  It made me look back at these paintings in a completely different light and I appreciate them much more now.