thesickbay

thesickbay, originally uploaded by eastaltus.

Been out of the sketchloop a bit as I've been working on a few new projects. Dayjobmonster has been more nightNdayjobmonster as of late forcing my personal projects deep into the cavernous shifty lands of Late/Early morning. It's not so bad there, my friends Kawfee and Headfonez are always fun to hang out with. Word has it Edison slept only twenty minutes a night or something and look at all the wonderful things he made! He also sent thugs out to beat patent violators with bats but hey, marvel at the electric filament bulb! Marvel I tell you.
So umm,
This painting was from my last show a million years ago. I wasn't sure if I was into it or not when I exhibited it, but it has grown on me since the show.
I think I like that it makes me anxious for the painting that should directly follow it, and maybe the one right before it. I have always wanted to do slightly narrative sequential paintings for a show but I wish I had thought of that while I was working on this one.
Too bad so sad.

theslowflood

theslowflood, originally uploaded by eastaltus.

It has been several years since I have smoked cigarettes. I smoked for a very long time and near the end there I was smoking like I was being sponsored. Cigarettes were a way for me to take a few minutes and step outside of whatever situation I was dealing with and "relax." Most commonly I would be working on a cartoon or painting and get severely frustrated with some incredibly important concern like Line Weight or some invisible Audience, and step outside on our back patio and light up. After exhaling several satisfying breaths and checking out the stars or the cats crawling along the fence, I would be reenergized to go back and tackle another sixty pages, inevitably to start the frustration cycle again.
I lived with a girl named Marie at the time, who was forever engaged in either the preparation of leaving or being gone. She had a tiny bathroom off the kitchen to herself that had a door to the patio. I stood there once, smoking, watching her perform intricate hair manipulation.
There are no tidy secrets embedded in this painting, but the rising water and the ominous background I'm sure reflect my frustrations, not so much with smoking, but for really understanding what vice is all about- my love for distraction, fear, and procrastination. Or whatever.

thesilententrance

thesilententrance, originally uploaded by eastaltus.

I started my day job four years ago, training with another girl who looked like she wanted be anywhere in the universe except there. I didn't give her too much thought at the time, I was pretty focused on looking busy and interested. We went our ways within the company, it wasn't until she was fired that we actually started hanging out. She moved into an apartment near mine. I would come over ,hang out on her roof under her laundry line and listen to Modest Mouse. Courtney was getting out of a relationship, I was just getting into one with a pianist that would turn into a lengthy lesson in existentialist angst. We would talk about music, art love and life, and enjoy being low maitenance friends.
As time progressed with the pianist, I started sharing a new art studio with another friend and was determined to chain-smoke, paint and be professionally moody. Courtney eventually took a job out in the sticks to teach, play violin and live in a snow hut. She would pop into town unannounced to hang out at random intervals and check out my new work. Her surprise visits became fewer and farther between until only postcards with no return addresses popped in.
I do miss Courtney, but I think that I really miss the shoestring lifestyle we enjoyed back then more, the simple pleasure of zero expectation company, the carefree discordant time of my life forever tied to Indian summer and Modest Mouse.
I made this painting at that studio for my Camus pianist girlfriend at the time, but alot of people who see it say the figure looks like Courtney. An old man in the street who saw the painting as I was carrying it to a show said the figure really looked more like me. Whomever the figure subconciously resembles, I think the thing that is more important to me about this painting is the feeling of wanting to be anywhere else but here and now, Someone noticing and the various events that follow.