Tres Amigos

12" x 30" | Oil

I saw an image of three friends sitting on the floor, so I decided to paint three amigos sitting on the floor. This was the result. I have no big story to go with it except it is a favorite of mine and was done with a slightly different technique. Alice Neal is a favorite painter of mine. This looks nothing like her paintings, but I feel it was influenced by my being able to see Neal's show at the Denver Art Museum many years ago. Her focus was people, people of the street. And that's a major interest to me as well.
I painted the contour of these individuals first before adding the color, I had seen that done in other painter's work, particularly from the 1930's. Their figures were almost outlined. Something about that appeals to me. However I did not translate that into my painting. But I was influenced by it.