Brushstrokes: G-dog's painting journey

We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth, at least the truth that is given to us to understand.

- Pablo Picasso -

My father was an artist, a very good one. I spent my childhood watching him work for months painting a single piece and the results were amazing. I never picked it up though, the ability to create through painting, sculpture, drawing and other mediums as he could. I grew up understanding art though, appreciating it, and enjoy it to this day.

I distinctly recall something my dad once said to me as a kid after I had criticised some artwork:

"G-dog, there is no bad art, just art."

He didn't actually call me G-dog, no one in real life does, but he said those words and they have stuck with me throughout my life as I watched my father make his living as an artist and create some of the most beautiful paintings and drawings I've seen and as I've travelled the world and observed art in some of the most renowned galleries.

Recently, I wrote a post about a monthly event initiative my girl-person and myself, together with another couple, came up with which you can read here if you would like to. It's a monthly outing that each of us has to choose individually on a rotational basis.

Recently we attended a paint your partner Picasso-style event at a gin distillery in the city as part of that event-initiative and I thought I'd do a post on it.

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Pre-brushstrokes

Part of the event was some gin tastings, unsurprising considering it was hosted by a funky gin distillery.

The image above shows my three sample gins which were all good. As we were sipping we checked out our work stations, each set up with a canvas, paints and brushes and began to think about getting focused to paint something in a Picasso style.

As the rest of the group gathered, around twenty five people total, we got settled in and before long the host, a local artist, began to explain the concepts of portrait-painting Picasso-style.

Picasso is one of my least-favourite painters, it's not a judgement, just that my tastes in art lean in other ways, Claude Monet, Leonardo Da Vinci, Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne and most Art Deco works for instance. He was incredibly talented for sure, but I don't really relate to his work and would rather look at someone else's. Having said that, the day was all about Picasso so I had it in mind to bring some of his style (if not skill) to my painting. Who knew how it would turn out? (I did...shit! I pushed on though.)

We all began painting with some following the occasional directions and suggestions of the resident artist and some going their own way; I did a little of both.

Mid-brushstrokes

I'd decided to try and indicate movement in my painting through my girl-person's hair. My original thought was for boobs to feature quite prominently, make it true to life and all, however I decided to play it straight on this occasion and pushed thoughts of boobs (almost) from my mind.

Soon, the paint was mixed on my palette and my brushes were applying it to the fresh white canvas and the portrait began to take shape. I went for hair cascading forward over her left shoulder and behind the right and some sort of blowing in the breeze. Ok, that part didn't work out, but hey, I'm not an artist right? The hair colour isn't right either, although I figured yellow would look quite striking.

I added some coloured geometric shapes in various colours including a triangular-shaped earing, and then a neck scarf as well. Don't ask me why, us non-artists don't have to justify...nothing wrong with a neck scarf though right?

As I progressed I began to add the facial features like eyes, mouth (I actually forgot to add that initially) and eyebrows. I painted her right eyebrow on an acute angle as if she's saying, what the fuck? I did that because I thought she'd probably say what the fuck when she actually saw my portrait of herself.

The further I went the worse things got and it wasn't because of the gin, I tasted all but only drank one and a half out of the three. No, things were going from bad to worse because I'm a terrible artist and I blame my dad! (Ok, not really, it was my fault for being generally shit at art.)

Post-brushstrokes

Finally the clock put me out of my artistic misery (not really misery, it was great fun) and it was time to sign my artwork and do a reveal.

I had paint all over my hands although my clothing managed to stay paint-free. Thanks apron. The brushes went back into the water and I took a moment to stretch out, a couple hours of painting takes it out of you. The four of us moved around and looked at each other's portraits and there was a bunch of laughing and a few what the bloody fuck's exchanged. #WTBF

The image below, in which we are each holding the painting of ourselves, shows the final result of our four portrait paintings, the one I painted is second from the right. There's me and my girl-person in the middle and our two friends left and right. Yeah, frightful huh? It was a great time though, a fun way to spend a couple hours and we have something to bring home to remember, although we'd probably rather forget how bad those paintings are.

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The event want for a total of two hours, although I'd have liked an additional hour because it felt a little rushed, and was run well. The location was cool and the gin was tasty even though I only tried each one and never finished any - I was too busy painting. As an outing I would recommend it if you get the chance in your location. It cost $75AUD each and that included everything other than any food ordered. I think that was reasonable, don't you?

Anyway, that's it, the first time I've posted any kind of painting I've personally done on the blockchain. It's also the first time I've ever done any painting that wasn't on a house or car. I know it's not very good, that wasn't really the point of the whole thing, the point was fun. I think I better stick to painting houses not portraits though.

If you've got any comments feel free to leave them below.