Lust For Life

This is a large painting I made at the beginning of art fair season. I wish my picture was better so you could see more detail. I have never written about it because I have had the hardest time putting words to its meaning. Through good conversation and by special request, I have decided to give it a try so please forgive me for bumbling a bit. The title of the painting comes from the movie about Vincent Van Gogh called Lust For Life. Kirk Douglas plays Van Gogh and it is just a really compelling movie. Makes me feel lucky that I am only a mildly tortured soul. On the surface of my painting, literally, is deep texture and this is certainly something I learned to love from looking at Van Gogh paintings. My other reasons for borrowing this title are personal. I think we can all be guilty of letting the little things keep us from remembering what a gift life is. I am especially guilty of this. I forget and focus on the negative, get rushed and forget the journey. Shame on me! This painting serves as a reminder to live life with passion. The red and yellow vibrate against each other like no other colors can. The various colors illuminating through are symbolic of the complexities of life but the red and yellow take over in an undying effort to inject positive energy into our lives. The textured lines that separate the two colors are my way of creating a feeling of unbalance. We get too comfortable and lazy when things are perfectly balanced. The scratch marks through these raised lines are symbolic of gripping with your fingernails at the only life we ever get. If we don't dig in and enjoy it, it will pass us by. What a travesty that would be.