Pan Am, without tummy tucks

 

Pan Am, Myocum 8 August 2022, oil on plywood, 240 X 120 cm

Another painting from this past week which both pleased and surprised me. I had struggled with it in my attempts to maintain simplicity by not taking it too far away from my original idea. The problem begins when the picture goes rogue, when my mind thinks it needs a facelift or a boob job, throw in a tummy tuck and a nose job too, and before I realise it, it's hardly recognisable anymore. So, keeping it simple, finding an 'out of the box' solution is often the best way to finish a picture and maintain sanity; Occam's razor for  Painters. 

But this picture I like, especially now that it's finished because I was (somewhat) able to stay true to what I had originally desired. But don't get me wrong, I like it sometimes when paintings go rogue, when I lose control over them, when I don't have a clear and solid idea of where I need to go. Herein, is a worthy struggle for all mice and men. For me, problems generally arise when I lack a vision or the necessary clarity to allow for it to veer off on its own with the confidence to follow it home like walking a dog at night without a leash.

Over the years I have certainly had several painting studios full of such orphans that either die slowly, mummified deaths, or those luckier ones who do get face lifts, tummy tucks, and all the rest until they are completely unrecognisable to me.

But in this series Pan AM I am determined to keep it simple (Occam's Razor!), to paint discreet pictures; large, and with simple colour harmonies and and even simpler drawings but that develop more and more relationships, all without losing the unity of the whole composition (Occam's Razor be damned).