Laguna College of Art + Design

Another cold brisk night in the city. Time to wander around, get lost, and find something else to paint. What am I looking for again? Tim suggested keeping my thesis idea in mind—the city is modern life with all the technology, supplies, services, cooperation, and participation that is required to function. The darkness of the city at night becomes the struggles and difficulties of modern life—all the stress and pressure that people put themselves through to keep going. The artificial lighting in that darkness—the streetlights, the displays, the neon signs…the light that we create ourselves—represents the strength we find in ourselves to persist. The act of wandering to find a composition to paint is akin to wandering through life to find a way. I seek buildings with interesting lighting and lots of signage—some of them are crooked. A mundane everyday scene most people would probably walk by without noticing is a perfect painting subject. The mundane has a wabi-sabi atmosphere—a Japanese aesthetic idea that celebrates the imperfect and decay as a reflection of the imperfection and impermanence of life—which is not too polished and clean but kept functioning well enough. A lot of interesting cracks in the sidewalk make the scene a little beat up. Yet the sidewalk makes a good path to indicate the wandering. Little details and lettering pose a nice challenge. “Do Not Enter” signs send a signal of danger and going the wrong way. Great, let’s do this!