Q: Would you speak about the creative process that resulted in your 1994 pastel painting, “Amok”?
A: Behind me in the photo above is one of my circa 1994 50” x 40” c-prints, signed by both Bryan, my late husband, and me. The photo was my reference for a pastel painting titled, “Amok” (right, above).
I staged these photos in our Alexandria house (staged photography was popular then), refined the composition over days or weeks, and lit the scene using two tungsten studio lights. I was careful to accentuate the shadows, doing what I could to light everything as though it were a film noir set. (Film noir is still a favorite movie genre of mine).
In those days I knew nothing about photography so I considered these photos collaborations, since Bryan clicked the shutter. (He typically shot two pieces of film using his old Toyo Omega 4 x 5 view camera with a rented wide angle lens). Bryan was reluctant to take any credit- insisting that the idea, concept, etc. were mine – but I persuaded him to also sign the photos. (How I wish he were still around to fill in forgotten details about our collaboration).People enjoyed and often asked to purchase the reference photos so I sometimes had them enlarged and sold them. The dragon in the foreground is significant because it was my first purchase in Oaxaca during our initial trip to Mexico.
If anyone is interested, please remind me to tell the (long) story about how I got it home on the plane!
Comments are welcome!
Posted on December 12, 2020, in 2020, Alexandria (VA), An Artist's Life, Creative Process, Domestic Threats, Mexico, Pastel Painting, Photography, Working methods and tagged "Amok", accentuate, Alexandria, around, asked, behind, Bryan, c-print, carful, clicked, collaboration, composition, concept, considered, credit, details, dragon, during, enjoyed, enlarged, favorite, film noir, forgotten, husband, initial, insisting, interested, Mexico, movie genre, Oaxaca, pastel painting, people, persuaded, popular, purchase, purchased, reference, refined, reluctant, remind, resulted, shadows, shutter, signed, significant, sometimes, somewhat, staged photography, Studio, tungsten. Bookmark the permalink. Comments Off on Q: Would you speak about the creative process that resulted in your 1994 pastel painting, “Amok”?.
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