"The Creation of Adam, Ode to Michelangelo"

Semi Abstract Life

Wow, what a painting this piece is, its commanding and peaceful all at once. Hung at the right height, it will dominate any room. It just appeared in my life and became what it is very fast, and in such an uneventful way. I was at a Goodwill thrift store looking for an office chair one day with Kam, my daughter at the time. They didn’t have anything I wanted, so as we were walking out, right next to the registers, leaning against the wall, was this massive canvas.

It was framed just like you see it now. The painting was standing tall, a little over 6 feet (2 meters) and you really couldn’t NOT see it or notice it. As I checked it out it seemed to be a commercial copy of some crap art someone probably bought from Pier 1 or Hobby Lobby, or wherever crap art comes from. Regardless, it was huge, already framed, and on a solid stretcher. Any artist will see this as an opportunity at the right price.

I have no shame; I will paint over anything. It was only priced out at $99 dollars, which for that crap print was too much but for me it was a decent price for massive canvas with a frame. So, me and Kam picked it up, drove it home in my truck and it sat against my studio wall for a few weeks. I was hanging out with some friends in the home studio one day and started showing them how a painting gets started, that’s how this one began.

I happened to have some Alizarin Crimson on my brush, mixed a little white with it and started embellishing this painting into what you see now. It developed more over a few days and then boom, it was done. Most of the visible painting is still the commercial crap art I found but with what I have added it really pops and works to sooth my visual pallets in a way that satisfies me. The piece flows and has an uncanny resemblance to Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam”. I just keep seeing it every time I look at the painting, I have even asked others and they see it too. So here it is, in all its glory.