This is an image that has been bouncing around my sketchbook for a year. Like many of my paintings, "Acorn Man" started as an idea for a sculpture (sculptures I never make), which is not a bad way to envision a picture. What kept me from putting him in a painting?..well... humor is a consistent element in my work, would this be skating too close to "silly" though? But it is summer, right, not a time for "heaviness" and this was going to be the last painting for my upcoming show in Nashville so, what the heck. I kept the landscape pretty bleak to counter the cute, kinda like a last man standing image. "But that squirrel?.. man" Hey, I like painting squirrels, couldn't resist.
Above: Keeper Of Acorns, 28x25, oil/canvas 2011
I noticed my face contorting weirdly while painting his face.
I noticed my face contorting weirdly while painting his face.
