In some of my first forays into painting (literally without a lesson, 1967) I painted what I saw around me in the Gary, Indiana area, this included trucks.
Many years later, after dropping out of teaching for a few years I did a formalized venture into highway images (1977-87). This brought some of my early road trip experiences as a kid as well as my love for the whole culture.
After that I pursued some experimental work including a lot of mixed media constructions. I became interested in design systems in nature and oceanic art. Lately I have been working on a series about clouds.
So here we are, I just retired and I although I am doing work on two books and some experimental photography, I felt like I had painted myself into a corner.
My solution is to go back to those trucks and cars. I came to this through photography. I was taking pictures of the interiors of junk cars. I then started looking at the fronts of those beloved old Fords and Buicks. Now I am making some small canvases, I will work towards bigger work soon. These aren’t quite as photo looking as that early work. I am taking more liberties with color and adding some symbols. I do not know where this is going but it is going….and that is the important thing.
billzine 