Nipomo
Oil on linen 11x14
Painted from a photo taken on the way home from SLO. Painted it the next day while it was still fresh in my mind.
Right down the road was a Mexican church that looked like a meth lab blew up behind it and a sliver of a trailer park next door that had so many high/ paranoid looking banger types giving me hard looks, my balls chipped back leaving a divot so this time around I skipped taking photos there. Here's a poem about it.
The Meth house blew up the church today,
It rained down bibles and bones,
A sad bloody day for Jesus in May,
Howls of frustration from old junkie Jones.
This church used to be a tiny old store,
The neighbors complain it's now an eyesore,
The mayor of Nipomo has fervently vowed,
By God he will see this church plowed!
I was in a hurry and wanted to take photo's inside, if I was just PA painting early in the moring, not problem. Some times folks don't like strangers with a camera and I didn't have time to make friends....
This little run down area will be gone any day now.
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posted by william wray at 5:34 PM
18 Comments:
I love how you're able to make ugly look so beautiful. Can you describe what it is exactly that draws you to your particular subject matter? I think it's fantastic!
Hey Bill -- I always think of the Bobs' song "Elwood Decker" when I hear of Nipomo -- and you were painting there, too! Here's the lyrics: www.bobs.com/Lyrics.cgi?Elwood_Decker
Nice painting - love the sunlight drawing your eye toward the house
I don't know if it will be gone "any day now", it looks like it will take a while to clean up even with the meth energy. :^)
Did you check out any of those books on the shelf in the second shot?
David it's a combination of things, but motivationally speaking, being a city boy is the biggest part. Seeing rural towns I grew up in paved over and turned into faceless terracotta corporate revenue streams. They tear down your childhood like time rusts your body. Emanate domain is saving the neighborhood from the scourge of blight and open space by making it something perfectly regulated and affordable to the elite. It's a class war people can't wait to lose.
The moment-to-moment questions are: is the subject interesting on all levels of story, design, light? Then the final ingredient... Your gut tells you, this is it, and this is your meat.
The Meth house blew up the church today,
It rained down bibles and bones,
A sad bloody day for Jesus in May,
Howls of frustration from old junkie Jones.
This church used to be a tiny old store,
The neighbors complain it's now an eyesore,
The mayor of Nipomo has fervently vowed,
By God he will see this church plowed!
thanks Reason!
James thats what tractors are for. ;-)
BG I didn't-- Since amazon and E- bay I don't go to bookshops anymore. Sad.
11 X 14? I wonder it's so small o__O
Great palette, I love the violet strokes.
Great composition William. I like the distance across the lot--it adds a lot to the piece.
Hey I forgot all about Nipomo that was one of the few areas we've been to that was a little scary!
Wow! I really like the color in this one. I'm a fan of beautiful greys - not gaudy color...
The handling of edges is particularly nice in this one William...
oh.. and you have a way with words!
There was no way I could make your show "Dirty Beauty" but I wish I could've been there. Last week I actually got out of the studio and I went to The New Britain Museum for the Pulp Art Show. Pretty incredible stuff. It's surprising to see how adventurous their brushwork was -- it's hard to see it when reproduced on the old pulp covers. Some of it reminded me of your deft hand.
Oh, and I'm back blogging again. Can't quite explain what happened.
Oh, and there's a Dirty Beauty book! This is just what I need.
whew. great painting and great post.
Fabio-- most of my better paintings are smaller. big is harder.
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