This is the Saga of the Belden Painting.
Belden Town is a little town on the Pacific Crest Trail.
Wikipedia has this to say about the trail:
The Pacific Crest Trail, officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (PCT) is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges, which lie 100 to 150 miles (160 to 240 km) east of the U.S. Pacific coast. The trail's southern terminus is on the U.S. border with Mexico, just south of Campo, California, and its northern terminus on the Canada–US border on the edge of Manning Park in British Columbia; its corridor through the U.S. is in the states of California, Oregon, and Washington.
The event I painted occured in 2016 during July.
The event is called Sunset Campout.
This was presented by Sunset Sound Systems.
Here is a selection of videos related to the event:
.This video shows some of the scenic drive north.
.
Here is some of the late night entertainment:
So the Saga begins.
I was stationed above the beach stage.
I made a decision I am not likely to repeat.
That is I made the painting vertical.
A 5ft x 4ft painting is really tall.
With my easel on a slope I had to reach really high to get the top characters.
This created an optical effect where all the characters are elongated and looking down.
This is great but... it needs to be hung on a high wall or above a staircase.
The painting does not work as well at eye level.
It is nearly an anamorphic painting. Anamorphic meaning stretched.
A very famous anamorphic painting is discussed in this article:
https://thatsmaths.com/2015/09/10/holbeins-anamorphic-skull/
The joke in the painting is looking up and seeing the wet underwear. The effect is not the same at eye level.
This painting began in 2016 and my understanding and ability to work with transparencies was still fairly early.
Here is the painting after the 3 days of the event:
Looking over the videos and information you may ask why I did not include all the floats.
These subjects were covered in an earlier painting that was still in production at the time.
I wanted something more quiet and was already knee deep in floaties.
Here is that work called "Once Upon a Festival"
This detail shows that transparent or translucent painting was still developing.
Here is another detail of the work:
Here is the full work:
I tend to work with the "Siren's Song" now and again. This theme was used in the work.
To read more about the Sirens please visit this link:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Siren-Greek-mythology.
My Sirens are not singing but you can see how they relate to the shipwreck.
The Saga Continues...
The painting was fairly fresh when I entered into the A.R.T Revolution Taipei International Artist's competition.
It cost a fortune to ship with the other work "The Souk"
Here is the Souk:
As this is a sage there needs to be drama.
The painting arrived damaged:
The Souk must have won me the award in the competition as I don't believe it was ever shown.
Here is the painting in the background as I worked on another painting:
Here are development shots of the work:
The saga continues. This year as I completed the salon award I looked to retrieve the artwork. Logic would dictate that as the crate was arranged to send some works home. Belden would be included.
I miss this work. Not only do I want to repair the little scratches, I just wanted to see it again. It has been stuck in Taiwan since 2018.
So why was this painting not returned?
It was shipped via DHL. I need to arrange with DHL to pick it up to agree with customs. This snafu slipped past my shipping budget and the painting is still orphaned in Taiwan.
The painting is for sale. Since the budget is unattainable for me at this time, there is an option that a buyer can rescue the work. The work would be shipped to my USA studio. The minor repairs would be made and the work will ship or be delivered to the buyer's home. This would be a rescue so I would add a minimal cost on top of all the shipping to make this order below retail price.
This year I will be returning to Sunset Campout.
I again have a 5ft x 4ft painting planned.
This work will be landscape and not portrait orientated.
Upon request I made posters for the 10th Anniversary of Sunset Campout.
These archival posters are 11" x 17" and sell for $25 tax included or $40 with shipping and handling.
Only 75 posters were made.
My hope is that the poster sales were spurn interest in the fate of the original work.
"stuck in customs" is no fate any painting should suffer.
My other hope is that all those who purchase the poster will hang the work higher than sight level .
Patrick Moran