"The Crowd," is another in my Lalapalooza paintings of people and crowds. This is not done, but might finally be on the right track. This painting has gone from undefined to defined to undefined. The chance to try things out and think about how much needs to be said is a process. This is a teaching painting. Playing with brushwork as a means to say it in a stroke. Hard one for me to do. At one point there were arms and legs everywhere. The battle to say everything goes on. I guess saying a lot is not a bad thing if what is said is direct and selective and doesn't take away from the main concept.
That is probably why this is a teaching painting of me. I am working on technique in an individual way. At least I did that through most of this. Having a painting hold together as a finished statement means there was an intent. There was a theme or story that is abstractly pulling from underneath and weaving the poetry together. For me, this is a crowd of people of all kinds that have arrived at a specific place, at a specific time, for the general reason of experiencing sound. My experience in this place was tied by sound and I was there happily for my husband and three sons. So I enjoyed watching the people who walk and talked and just moved from event to event in a wave. These masses of people inspired by sound to travel to this place in Chicago fascinate me. And so I will continue.
