After a year or so of looking at the the giant mural of the virtues and thinking to myself, “Wow, I should probably do some painting on that…”, I’m officially calling it quits on the thing and painting it over with at  least three other paintings. I can use the blue skies in these other works if I’m careful about it, so the materials won’t be lost, but the virtues project just doesn’t excite me any more. So, on with the Hanged Man, who is taking shape in the middle of the wall.
I’ve changed my mind about the height, because of the impracticality of a twenty foot high painting. I’d LOVE to make a giant painting like that, but it’s going to have to wait until someone commissions it. The new canvas for the Hanged Man will be ten feet high and five wide, a good sized piece of work with the figure receding from a life sized head to a much smaller foot as the body dramatically extends up and away from the viewer. It’s a big mess of Foundation White over blue and white background right now, establishing the rough shape of the figure as he hangs suspended from a rope by one ankle, reaching down toward the ground in his efforts to reach a ring.
I’ll need to research oak trees this time, looking carefully at their leaves and branches because the rope will be lashed to a sturdy branch at the top of the canvas.
