boat on fire

My work has focused on the way we use photography and social media to construct our memories. I try to create paintings that reflect that unattainable dream like quality of our memories. I have inherited thousands of family photographs, my family was in the photo engraving and processing business for over 75 years, and have been archiving them. Going through them I've been amazed by the common themes and imagery that I've used in my own work. My new work is focusing on creating a blend of my own history with my family history and where those images begin to combine and blur together.

This painting is based off of a photo from the news a few weeks ago of a boat that caught fire after the boaters allegedly harassed another boat for displaying gay pride flags.

This painting is gouache, ink, watercolor and liquid acrylic on Yupo paper. The painting is 13.75 x 7.25 inch mounted on a matte board and framed in a 20 x 16 white box frame which is ready to hang.

I make my work by tracing the original photo, on larger paintings I then project the image and create an ink underpainting, on the smaller pieces I create an ink diy monoprint that I transfer onto the Yupo as the underpainting. Yupo is a synthetic paper and the ink doesn't absorb in giving it a longer drying time so I can then work in wet-on-wet with gouache and watercolor building texture and working to recreate the image from the memory while manipulating the distorted underpainting. I finish using liquid acrylic like a terp thinned oil paint to glaze on highlights, shadows and details.