Independence Day (38" x 64", oil on canvas, Sept. 1997) This painting has been a huge challenge to me. In the first place, it is one of the largest works I've done. In the second place, it was the first painting I did using these looping, circular rope-like forms. For a while afterwards, these forms became a common feature in my work. Anyway, this painting presented me with visual problems that drove me crazy. I put it away in the summer of '96 because I couldn't stand looking at it anymore. At the time, I thought maybe it was finished and that the uneasy feeling I had about it was just because it was a new direction for me and that if I put it out of sight and looked at it afresh in a few months I would like it. About six months later I dug it out again and decided something was needed to add some punch. That something was the stripes.  Next picture     Previous picture     1996-1997 Gallery     Paintings     Home © 1996-1999 by Alec Clayton