I just finished printing my art inventory for the show on Saturday, and realized I never took photos of "Jimi Hendrix". I painted a very nontraditional portrait, sort of "other-worldly". It was a challenge from my dearly beloved. We had been sitting in the studio, and a Hendrix song came on the radio, and he said, "Why don't you paint a picture of Hendrix?" Now, you have to understand, I don't do portraits. Ever. So of course I couldn't get this idea out of my head. I tried to paint him all serene and happy, kinda stoked on life, so to speak. It just wasn't working. So I started talking to the painting, saying, "What do you want me to do, Jimi?" (This was not an isolated moment of insanity; I talk to inanimate objects all the time.) I was totally frustrated with the painting, so I changed the face to a scowl and sullen stare, and voila! Now it had some emotion. I put him in a psychedelic swirly cloud and the whole painting changed. I don't think I'll do a series of dead rock and roll musicians, though. But as a challenge, it got me thinking outside my usual box, and if you don't stretch, you don't grow, right? So here's the painting of James Marshall Hendricks, from the other side.
"Jimi Hendrix", Oil on Canvas, 30H x 24W, (c)Jean LeBaron
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