New Painting: 1975

1975, acrylic on panel, 18x24, 2009

This new painting is based on a 1975 photograph just after I turned 4 years old. For some reason though, the disco shirt and the way I painted it makes me look like a teenager. It started off as more of a mixed media piece but ended up as a fully-formed painting. The birds were created from a screen-print image that I've been using in some other recent works.

I was trying to capture that sunny, free, 1970's childhood feeling with this painting. A time when parents didn't have to worry about kids playing outside by themselves. A time when strip malls didn't dominate the suburban landscape. A time before tainted water was served up to residents of my hometown.

Here's the original wallet-sized photograph this painting is based on: