"Where do your ideas come from?"...This is the question most often asked these days (used to be "What does it mean?"). I think it is safe to say that painters are image junkies, always on the lookout, radar up, for visual input to be added to our mental hard drives. So...here's the answer to the question based on the image above.
I picked up the circus tent from a music score my daughter was carrying around for her voice class, ("Annie Get Your Gun"). It was a small illustration on the cover. I copied it into my sketckbook and began doodling possible paintings..eh..nothing was coming up.
Couple months later...I was sitting in the stands at a Braves baseball game, just chillin'. My eyes caught the guy selling cotton candy, he was good, instead of just standing there, he would run from the top of the aisle down to the bottom, with the confection piled onto a long pole, clouds of pastel sugar bouncing in the air...bingo.
Now I had my two main elements, drew those onto the canvas. Next, what to add?, color choices?, mood?...etc. basically trial and error from here on. The couple was needed, balloons, very peaceful scene, so at the last minute I added the animals, borrowed from Edward Hicks.
Above:Circus (Cotton Candy) 35x30 oil canvas 2011
Above:Circus (Cotton Candy) 35x30 oil canvas 2011
