studiomargo: Post-National Steinbeck work

My work is currently hanging at the National Steinbeck Center until November 2nd has left me craving the creation of another large scale painting. I was working on that piece for 10 to 12 hours a day. My life revolved around that project. It seemed that everything I did and read was related to "The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights" I immersed myself in the book, went for walks that had me viewing Castle Rock. I would think about the knights and damsels and their interactions in the forest. It is always exciting for me to start on a new large project. The process of the work is dependent on the project itself. This project was about 280 hours, packed one day after the next, up with the sun, working all day, putting on sunscreen, making simple fast foods to throw into my mouth, so my hands are free to work again. I lived and breathed this work for a little more than a month straight.

In contrast my mural at the Aquatic Center took a little over 300 hours of pure painting but it was a year long project. I was learning the ins and outs of policies on a university setting. I jumped through political hoops and revised my ideas, worked with the Aquatic community, researched heavily at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Labs and did sketches and water colors of what the work would look like on the wall. My spring break as a student comprised of early mornings with a sack lunch and off to the pool to paint for the day. The other days during this process found me coming in and out of classes, coming to and from a graphic design job I was working at the time about 20mins away from CSU, Monterey Bay. I had a large wall to cover and a definite time line to keep. I would paint any chance I had. Two hours there, 5 hours here. I was able to use some of my painting classes to work on that project which would help. I worked and painted that wall everyday that the rain was away. When the project was finished I was pleased with the work. I can still go there today and check it out remembering the whole process and how naked that wall was before the kelp forest was planted near the Otter Tank.

Well this work I created for the NSC is still alive and well and you can go check it out any day of the week at the NSC. I was feeling a sense of loss when the paintings left my home. I had created a bond with the NSC work. I would move the 6 panels in the morning, paint and work with them during the sunlight hours and then when the night arrived I would place them in their little spots and smell the beeswax as I dreamt of the characters and their lives from Steinbecks book. I painted, created the work, and brought it to its new home. After that, I went back to my little house on the hill and sat. I felt like i just gave my newborn baby away. I felt a sense of loss, detachment, anxiety and felt like my work and I got in an argument and it left town. After the project I still had two more 2x4ft panels and so, away I went. I started to paint them I believe two days after I installed the work at the NSC. I was not quite sure what I was going to paint, but I knew I needed to paint. Here are some images of the work I created after my Steinbeck work. I worked in a variety of sizes and demolished a lot of my work I had from over the last two years.

This work expresses my color palette and ideas I had been gathering during my large scale painting for the Steinbeck but was unable to incorporate it into that body of work, for a variety of reasons. All of this work is for sale and can be seen in person in Sand City at the Monterey Mattress Company Showroom located at 1714 Contra Costa St. The work will be on display for the next few months. Below are a few of the paintings that are showing.