A Swan in San Francisco.

This is a new commission from Leon Mott who is back with request for a close friend of the family, Lynn Hart. Lynn lives in the Bay area and loves San Francisco. She is very also proud of her Finnish heritage. This is what I was given.
Different people have different approaches in how they give me a painting request. Some people tell me a story, some give a detailed description, some just offer me a word a single word and ask me to take it from there. I usually like to get the patron to brainstorm with me so we can collaboratively come up with an idea, but not everyone is open to that.
Leon approach, on all four paintings we've done together on this blog, is to tell me about the person the painting is intended for, and let me go from there. This time, however, he came up with the idea of painting the San Francisco skyline with blue and white, the colors of the Finland. I liked this but wanted one more image to really peg the Finnish reference. After some Google Image searches, I found out that the swan was a the National bird of Finland. I realized that a flying swan was roughly in the shape of a cross, the symbol on the Finnish flag. Everything from here fell easily into place. ...But I wanted it to be a little subtle, not too graphic, more naturalistic. I think it does the trick.

I've had some revelations over the past couple of weeks. I've been working on a proposal to try to get an artist fellowship. One of the things I needed to do was write a narrative about my work. I cut and pasted together pieces from the many artist statements I've written over the past five years and tried to make something cohesive out of my old ideas. On the second page of it I mention this blog/project and quickly dismiss it.
The people who I asked to review this ugly first draft called me on it. I've certainly spent a lot of time on this project over the past year. (This is my 31st painting for the Panda since January!). Beth, my wife, read it and her response was, " why do you treat the blog like the ugly step sister?".
Time to rethink this?
I've been relooking at what I do here and have decided maybe there is more to it than I thought. Previously, this was a fun little project to engage people. Now, I'm seeing a strange complexity to the whole thing that wasn't completely consciously intended. I'm also seeing more connections between this and my "personal" work.
When the awesome writer, Karen Lillis, kindly set up the FaceBook page for the Panda, she asked if I wanted any of my other work in the "pictures" section. I told her "no" and that the works live in two different universes. She thought this was funny (probably thought I was funny). I think I was a little delusional. I was thinking very rigidly in my strict separation.
I do think this project does need to remain as separate body of work and keep it's rules and focus the same for it to remain interesting, however, it should be separate but equal. Right?
The Panda is now almost half of what I talk about on that narrative and I'm working out and artist statement for this project alone. ...but I'm not changing it.

Thank You, Leon, for your triumphant return to the blog.

Here is a link to my new website...of my "other" work: http://www.johnmegas.com/

...and read The Second Elizabeth by Karen Lillis. http://www.myspace.com/eyescorpion

A Green Rabbit that Speaks Bird.

Molly Fox obviously spends some time in a different world. She she sent me some vital information about that world and asked me to paint something from it.
Here is part of her long request:

There is a hamster who is the founder of the (scholarly research) institute. There's a chipmunk who's his right hand man, he's the administrator and tech guy. There is a green rabbit who speaks bird. They are cute but serious.

This is a lot of characters. I figured I'd better narrow it down because I didn't want to go super miniature. The rabbit speaking bird was intriguing. Somehow translating bird language is part of the research? I don't know, but that seemed the direction to go. It implies an action.
My first reaction was that it would look like children's book. Maybe Frog and Toadish. But, why do all crazy stories have to be geared toward children? I thought it would be more interesting do some pleasing designy thing with this. However, when I made the bird, I instinctively went a little expressionistic and I didn't want to turn back. I landed somewhere strange.
The rabbit is very detailed, the bird cruder, visible sound waves, a stylized yellow sky. Maybe kind of a mess, but I think there is a charm to it. I like the outcome but I feel I should know better.

So far, I've made about thirty paintings for people through this blog and, as far as I know, everyone has been happy with what I've done. ...But this can only go on forever, right? Someone is bound to be upset about the painting I make them. I'm bound to get something wrong or interpret subject matter in a way that they find objectionable. I guess that is just the risk you take. I'll be sure to post any mean comments I may get in the future. (Hopefully not from Molly).

Thank you, Molly! I hope this brings some new inspiration to the mythology you've been creating. ...or at least ...you like it.

It Could Have Been A Seven Toed Cat.

Several months ago I donated a Panda Gift Certificate to a silent auction benefiting The Bridge for Youth, a shelter for homeless and runaway youth, located in South Minneapolis. Jeremie Holmes was kind enough to support this organization and purchased the certificate.

Here is his request:

Jeremie and his partner vacationed in Key West this last May and wanted something to remind them of their trip. He gave me some words as a guide "smiles, sunsets, love, adventure..." and so on. Nothing very specific.

I've never been to Key West. I started my process by looking up pictures and information about the island. I was instantly grabbed by an article about Earnest Hemingway's inbred cats whose descendants live on his former Key West estate. There are about 50 of them. Many have six or seven toes on each paw. There is a special legal protection extended to them. Really. ...but this wasn't what I was asked to paint.

I quickly found it hard to create a memory for a trip that I wasn't on. If I went too literal, I would get things wrong. Record memories as they weren't. I thought it would be better to make something vague that might provoke memory. Create a mood that may relate to a trip to Key West.

I found some aerial views of the island online that I liked and decided to print them to study. The color ink cartridge on my printer was low, so, they came out kind of washed out and with strange colors. This looked like memory to me.

After painting a very blurry, soft organic island shape, I decided to add lines to suggest buildings and roads. Bustling Key West shouldn't look desolate, right?

I spent a very long time on this painting, working very instinctively, not thinking to much in a logical way, just feeling my way through it.

...I just realized the image looks a little like a single celled organism. I don't know why, but this seems appropriate.

Speaking of trips, last weekend my family and I went to Chicago for the opening of Neolaia/Pathos: new.youth.passion. at the National Hellenic Museum. (I have three paintings in this show.) It was a great experience and the show is very well done...and, more importantly, interesting. The exhibition is running through January 9th, 2010. If you find yourself in the Chicago area, stop by. I love the Hellenic Museum!

Thank you to Curators Diane Katsiaficas and Mary Antonakos.

...and Thank You Jeremie Holmes for this opportunity to paint for you ... and for your support of The Bridge.

Radioactive Blood.

Niki F wanted a painting for her boyfriend, Gil, as a birthday present... but she wasn't sure what. On her request, I met with her to brainstorm.
Niki told me that her boyfriend is from Minneapolis, likes Grain Belt Premium Beer and Jamison, and rides his bike everywhere. Then she slipped in that he would really like Spiderman to be in the painting, but then she dismissed it. She probably thought that I wouldn't do it. I sensed this was important to him, so, Spiderman needed be present in some way.
I went home and thought about it extensively over the next few days. I was stumped. I decided to post it as a challenge on the Panda Facebook Page. While I got some good and creepy responses, I used Molly Fox's idea of having a scene with the WebSlinger on the Hennepin Avenue Bridge by the historic Grain Belt Beer sign. This painting is completely Minneapolis.
Spiderman was problematic for me because I don't know anything about him beyond the cheaply made 1970's cartoon. Is he tough, listen Bud, he's got radioactive blood. That kind of thing. I could make many mistakes (which I may have).
I didn't want to paint something that looked like the cover of a comic because...well...what would be the point? Why wouldn't you just hang up the cover of a comic book? I can't paint Spiderman as well as the guy who draws the comic.
I went with the postcard gone wrong theme instead. It called for a lot of little detail. By the end I felt like I was painting the head of a pin. Pushed my new painting glasses to their limit.
I used my tiny 0000 sized paint brush (as immortalized in Catharina Jarl's Haiku) extensively on this painting. (Also, like the Haiku, this painting features the Mississippi River).
This is really a complicated subject matter to make small scale. The proportions are a little weird. Spiderman is giant next to the bridge...but really...who cares? It helps the narrative.

This painting marks the end of my summer break from the blog. Theo will start school again next week. It's cooling down. Autumn will soon place it's chubby fingers on our heads one more time.
I will go back to posting at least one painting a week.

Thank You, Niki and Happy Birthday, Gil!

Waiting for the School Bus... John's Request.

This piece was made for me from my request by artist Cara Lynn Kleid. It was part of a trade. I made her the bonsai painting I posted here last month and she made this awesome piece for me. Here was the request I emailed her:

I wake up at 5:30 every morning to get my son, Theo, ready for kindergarten. I usually let my wife, Beth, sleep because she works longer days than me.

I live in Minneapolis where the days are very short and cold in the winter. Theo catches his bus at 6:40 am. Half of the year it is still pitch black at this time. In January, we walk to the bus stop and it's usually dead quiet, and looks like night, the stars and the moon are out. It's often well below zero and snow may be piled waist high next to the sidewalks. No one is out. Sometimes we are so cold, we jump around. Sometimes we look at the sky and talk about how far away and big things are.

Sometimes it's unbearable to be out there so tired and frozen. But it is also beautiful.

I told Cara to take any part of this narrative or all of it and do with it as she will. It turns out she told the entire story and completely captured the feeling of it. The rush to get out to the bus stop, the calm of waiting, the haziness of cold early morning, it's all there. If you look at the image closely, you will see that the location of each of my family members is labeled.

The lines of the bus are so simple and confident and loose...it's really hard to draw like that. Plain and simple, her work is really impressive... and she makes it look so easy. Damn you, Cara!

Cara requested that I send the painting I made to her father, Joe, in Florida who raises bonsais. I was pleased when she forwarded me some pictures he had taken of it with his trees.

Thank You, Cara!

As always, check out Cara's website:

http://www.caralynnkleid.com/

Motorcycle Sappho!

Yeah, you saw it ... and now you're going to have to deal with it. Motorcycle Sappho!

Stephanie Huss commissioned this painting for her close friends Beth and Allison as a gift for their commitment ceremony this coming weekend. Steph requested a larger piece than the usual tiny panda size and I agreed to it. (I like Steph, and I can do what I want!). This painting is an enormous 10"x12". It dwarfs everything else on this blog.

Steph didn't have anything specific in mind. She ran some basic information about her friends by me and then asked if I knew of any women in ancient mythology that ruled the world together. I didn't, but mentioned the ancient Greek poet Sappho who ruled the poetry world from the island of Lesvos (from which the word "lesbian" was derived. Etymology!).

Sappho was a respected and popular figure in the ancient world whose work traveled well outside of the Hellenic world. Very little is known about Sappho and what we have is greatly debated. At one time, Nine volumes of her poetry circulated but now only one complete poem exists, everything else is just fragments. (However, I can watch the complete first season of "Charles in Charge" on Hulu...preservation...). Many of here works are love poems to other women.
I bought a board and was going to do an ancient Greekish looking portrait but that seemed to random. I thought it needed some kind of fresh context. I knew I didn't want it to look like the lurid grotesquely-romantic paintings of Sappho that were popular in Western Europe in the 19th century. Half-naked women leaning against each other lounging by the sea.
I showed the original ancient source pictures I was going to use to Beth (Megas, my wife...two Beth's in this story...) because I know she never pulls any punches with me (even when I'd prefer it). Beth was unimpressed. She burst out with "Sappho should be riding a motorcycle". It was the worst idea I had ever heard. ...but it was kind of awesome... maybe?
I wrote our friend Karen Lillis in Pittsburgh and ran it by her. I thought she would be a good judge on the awesome/yuck factor of this one. She was excited about it. I called Steph and she gave me a big thumbs up. Motorcycle Sappho it is.
I changed the basic style and color scheme of this painting more times than I can remember. I originally approached it with the idea of an ancient artifact... but that seemed too gimmicky. At one point it was more graphic and Sappho looked suspiciously like a cartoon Nia Vardalos. There were scorpions and a cobra for a while. It also went through a darker German Expressionist phase. I lightened it up and made it much less angular and we got what we have now. I like this. I didn't want it to be too ridiculously serious or too much of a novelty piece.
If the couple are not satisfied with it, they can scrape off a couple layers, they are bound to find something they like underneath.

In Other News :
I've recently received an image of the piece artist Cara Lynn Kleid made from my request (see "Bonsai!") and I will post that within the week. It's beautiful and kind of wacky! My favorite combination.

Thank you, Stephanie, and my best to Beth and Allison. I wish you many happy years!

A Haiku From Sweden And A Dream Of Kurosawa.

This Painting is for Catharina Jarl who lives in Stockholm, Sweden. Catharina is a writer with a very impressive past who currently runs a Haiku Blog called Swedeheart: Haiku from Sweden. The haikus she writes are awesome...and I love the fact that a Swedish haiku blog exists.
Catharina stumbled across the Panda when she was searching for information about Rowan Trees (see The Lucky Tree From Which The Devil Hanged His Mother?). She left some very kind comments on my last post and I replied to her with the suggestion that we make a trade. A haiku for a painting. The haiku she wrote for/about me is being published on her blog at the same time as I post this. Click over and read it.

http://www.swedehearthaiku.blogspot.com/

I'm crazy about it... and I'm glad that she chose to write about her process.

As for her request, Catharina sent me a YouTube link to Sunshine Through the Rain, the first segment in Akira Kurosawa's film Dreams.

In this dream a boy wanders into the woods during a sunny rainstorm, despite his mother's warnings, and witnesses a fox's wedding procession. As you may imagine, the foxes are none too happy...

I decided to represent the narrative of this story but to change the look and approach. I wanted to depart from the traditional Japanese costumes and human "foxes" of the film. Very early on I thought about the Matisse painting "Boy with a Butterfly Net" that I have saw many times over the years at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (which I live less than a mile from). This, along with that Max Beckman painting of a crowd of people and a guy in a top hat, which I don't know the name of, where like ghosts haunting an almost subconscious part of my soul the entire time I was painting.

I also immediatley knew I wanted the strongest colors to include phalo blue (which I made the greens from) and burnt umber. Together, they felt like the appropriate dream colors to me. Lately, I've liked to set paintings up using india ink with a long skinny Chinese ink brush. Just making the lines of everything first. I did that here and ended up misusing that ink brush with acrylic paint for almost everything here. It felt right. I need to be careful. I've been using too many art supplies the way they were intended. Can make for boring stuff if you're not careful.

Be sure to read the haiku on Catharina's blog and ...

if you are a member of the Swedish speaking world check out her other blog:

http://www.bokstavlarna.blogspot.com/

Unfortunately, I don't read Swedish so I have no idea what it's about.

Thank You, Catharina! This has been fun.