Finally got something.

I've been working at figuring out what to do with my October show for months. In the beginning it seemed like such an easy idea, birdhouses made to look like buildings from across the world, but after two shows that didn't say much thematically, I was getting burnt on painting more eye candy. That is not to say that I don't like my paintings from earlier this year, but they didn't have as much meat as I'd like.

I was toying with creating maps, Sims style, and pointing out where the birds would live in the town, but realized that that was more about human dwellings than the bird dwellings. I wasn't making any metaphors there. So finally last night, I figured out that I was going to make very large paintings of trees, serve as imagery representing caste and social status. Then I will hang paintings of birds with their birdhouses over top.

The homeless birds, those living in mechanical and abandoned industrial sites, will be at the bottom, followed by shanty towns of birdhouses, middle class home birdhouses, luxury condo houses, and mansion type houses.

Here are a couples sketches I came up with last night, one for the homeless level and the other for a luxury condo:

I want to make these homeless paintings a little dark, kind of in a Camille Rose Garcia vein.

The top levels I want to be really bright, and idealistic.

The idea may have some holes, but it's a step in the right direction, so I'm feeling pretty good about it. I'll have some more sketches soon, now that I know what I'm doing.

peace
Mike