‘Mothership Love’ was created while performing as a live painter at the Strange Soiree III music festival the weekend of October 13/14th, 2023. The festival is hosted on the lovely Morgan Creek Farms in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. The weekend itself was forecast to be cold and wet. Sadly, many people choose not to use their tickets. However, the 150 or so who did bear the storm were treated to an amazing weekend of great music, dancing, and vibes all around.
Considering the rain, I was set-up to paint in front of the inside stage. The location turned out to be perfect as it was not too close to the speakers, out of the way of traffic, and yet still allowed me to interact with whomever stopped by. Additionally, the timing of acts that were performing at the stage was staggered versus the main stage. This allowed me to work on it, take breaks, and still enjoy the other acts. In theory, this would have also allowed time for the paint to dry.. but rather that would not be the case. With 100% humidity and a steady rainfall, I was painting wet on wet for most of the time. By the end, I was mostly moving paint around rather than adding additional layers. Thus the reason the female dancer is finished the way she is.
The goal of the piece was to express movement, intrigue, happiness, and love. These are what I feel when I go to festivals and see people dancing. I rarely know them, but I love them wholeheartedly. I feed off their energy and happiness.
Apparently, I was successful in bringing that to the canvas. I am honored to have not one but two people ask to buy the painting on the spot. Thankfully they are good friends and worked it out between them. I wish I could have sent each with the same painting, but ya know.. physics.. 🙂
This experience has me filled with joy, optimism, and encouragement. I look forward to building upon what I learned while creating this painting. And most importantly, I’ve reaffirmed that I need to paint what I love.
Thank you for reading and I look forward to sharing more of my creations in the future.
Special thanks to Solar Circuit and Hog Wild Productions
