Guardians: False Idols In-progress

 I started this painting Saturday with a bright yellow background. While the frame portion came about almost immediately, the darker blues and pinks toward the top (originally the bottom) took a few hours to build up and, while I loved the effect, I wasn't sure where the painting was headed. 

​The frame added an obvious entry point for the viewer and a "stage" for the eventual subjects, but I didn't have a pose, figure, or subject matter in mind. To be honest, up until about 8PM Sunday, I thought this might end up as one of my rare abstract paintings. The flowery foliage and plant-life that has been dominating smaller-scale paintings as of late felt easy... lazy, and a figure hadn't emerged naturally quite yet. 

While the sun set on the second day of painting I began to contemplate figures I'd used in the past but was hesitant; I thought a gatherer would fit the scene well but my first try seemed to be bending backward rather than forward. Rather than cover it up and start over (I was feeling a bit impatient at the time) I decided to follow this unplanned thread and eventually found the figure on the right, reclined on a rock, seemingly sleeping but in a somewhat uncomfortable position. The figure to the left felt obvious after that. ​I added a staff to the reclining figure's hand and a narrative started to materialize.

"Guardians" jumped out in my mind; not a Marvel-esque triumph, but a more sarcastic tone. These two guards had fallen asleep on the job; trusted with the safety of whatever they oversaw, they had abandoned their post, or at least their responsibility, leaving what was to be protected to fend for itself. Further it seems that, upon waking, they are unconcerned with their predicament; perhaps unaware of the viewers gaze but also undisturbed, at least internally, with the failure of their duties. Guardians in name only it seems...

I did not start the painting as an intentional commentary on those in power or those taking it, nor did I plan to talk about guardians on veteran's day, but I suppose it's only appropriate that a painting about false leaders came about in the week following our most recent election.

Further, on this Veteran's Day, hopefully we can look to and remember those that actually gave their lives and sacrificed for our safety, rather than praise those looking only for attention and support while hoping we don't see what truly goes on behind the scenes. 

Guardians. In progress...just a few more hours to go.