Heath
About a year ago I started creating some masks to use as ‘models’ for future paintings. At the time I had no idea where this might lead me, but I knew I needed some new inspiration and thought that it could be fun to create my own. The paint had barely dried on one of these masks when my online artist friend, Robin Samiljan, decided to add it to her collection…
Swirls – Acrylic on paper mache’ mask – ©2011, Don Michael, Jr.
As I had done with all of those new masks, I took a bajillion photos of Swirls before I sent it east to its new home. I often looked through the photos I’d taken, but had put off creating a painting from any of them. (Go ahead, you can add chicken sounds here…)
Anyway… a few months later my explorations with these newly created masks led to the beginnings of what was to become my Eye Candy series of palette knife paintings. When I posted about the 60th of these paintings recently, Robin asked me if I had used Swirls in an Eye Candy painting yet. Well, at that point I knew what I had to do. In the infamous words of Barney Stinson from the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!”.
Please welcome number 61 to the series…
Heath – 5″x5″ – Acrylic on canvas – Completed 2/21/12
©2012, Don Michael, Jr.
FYI, after I had painted almost 1/2 of the swirls in this painting with my palette knife I decided that I had shown off long enough and used a brush to finish. My eyes thanked me…
Happy Creating!
Heath bars are my favorite! And I do love spirals and spots. Nicely done, Don. You’re a brave man to accept the challenge.
You have really taken your theme of masks and continued to expand and reinterpret it to keep it fresh and interesting. I can’t wait to see the next piece of candy!
WOW!!!! U DID IT AGAIN!!!!!! LOOKS GREAT…….
Don, wow… I must have this to hang next to the mask! I love the black … Shades of black. Also , I am out of town but hope you can email purchase details , will check laptop later.
Funny, as I was reading I was imagining painting those swirls with an knife and it felt very awkward!
P.s. I Am typing on a phone in a moving car, I am robun …. Typo above, just wanted you to avoid confusion.
Elizabeth… I have always loved Heath bars, as well. Interestingly enough, I did not have that name on my list of possible candy names. But, once I was finished with this painting and had a chance to really LOOK at it the packaging of those delectable treats popped into my mind… I’m glad you enjoyed the results of my challenge. Thank you!
Kathy… Thank you!
Robun/Robin… I hope you were riding and not driving while typing on a phone in a moving car. 8-} Thank you for the enthusiastic response and you have details awaiting you in your email. Happy travels!
Mark… It was indeed awkward to paint the swirls with the blade, but I wanted to see if I could do it. Once I proved to myself I could I grabbed my brush. In less than 10 minutes I was able to do with a brush what had taken me almost a half hour to do with the blade. Not only did my eyes thank me, but so did my shoulders…
-Don
Beautiful. I love the black against the toffee background (I’ve never eaten a Heath Bar so I googled it).
there is a word that I like to use where you are concerned and that word is GADZOOKS! your painting of the b&w mask is fantastic!!!!
Hallie… Thank you! This was a fun complimentary color scheme to work with. Heath bars are great. You can take a bite, let the chocolate melt away and then have a delicious slab of toffee and almonds dissolving on your tongue. MMMMMmmmmm….
Celeste… Thank you! I always appreciate your “GADZOOKS!”. They always make my day.