Old paintings, Old friends

While Humming Famous Blue Raincoat (formerly titled Exit In)

At the Corner Of Providence and Division

I completed these two paintings in February of 2007 for a show in Redmond at Mountain Custom Framing.  They are going to be on display again tonight at the PoetHouse for Art Hop.  

The ladies in these paintings are my friends Rachel and Kristen,  fellow painters during my undergrad days at MTSU.  But these aren't quite portraits.  Rachel laughed and didn't recognize herself in the Blue Raincoat.  I don't know if Kristen knows this painting exists.  Through staring at the photos I used for references for them (credited to Rachel herself and another painter friend, Billy) I revisted my friendships while pushing paint around.  We shared studio space during the aftermath of September 11th.  We stayed at the Washington Hotel in Harlem in the spring of 2002.  So many conversations, about art and life and relationships and what not.  So while I feel I captured Rachel's concentrated thoughtfulness, and Kristen's optimism, these aren't portaits of them.  They are a portait of transition, of distillation.