Matti Paints - Subject Kevin C

What do you call someone who holds such a special and beautiful place in your heart that you've only met a couple of times?

Some might say confidant, some might say acquaintance... I would say it's somewhere between a lover, a cousin and a pet. I've had the privilege of having a few friends in my life who occupy this very affection position, and one of them is Kevin.

I have known this guy through thick and thin. He's seen me in every stage of my adult life and always been there to lend an ear.

Also it turns out he knows Patrick from way back when. I guess amazing people just run in packs.

 

 

I knew he'd been through a bit of a hard patch lately and as such seeing his playlist wasn't such a surprise. A lot of songs about healing, finding yourself and recovering.

Plus, one song I put in there as a bit of a bittersweet memory. Ten points if you guess which one!

I don't know why I love bittersweet memories so much. I guess they just make life more interesting.

Anyway, as a result I found myself being drawn to a very soft and gentle part of Kevin. I felt like he was wanting something more. He wanted to know that what he was doing was ok. I wanted to show him who he really was. Strong, handsome and powerful. 

Again I'm noticing patterns. I've been associating yellow with power lately. Mainly because the colour dilutes  and blends so easily that to have a solid stripe of yellow is hard, so to block off an entire section of the body in it becomes a challenge. Especially when paired with the green. You need to be very conscious of where the yellow will be, and the fact that the green lines cross over his heart seems to suggest a kind of guarded vulnerability.

Again, I work with a literal tree motif, but this time a strongly realistic approach over a solid grey backing. Why? I'm not really sure. There is something extremely solid and spiritual about a tree. And the fact that it's layered over grey suggests new life.

Am I looking too much into this painting? Probably. But that's what I'm supposed to do, right?

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Matti Paints - Subject Jackie

When painting Jackie I was up against a unique nemesis: exhaustion.
When I traveled to North Bay I did most of these canvases in one day.

Katie in the morning, Brea and Mandy in the afternoon, and I didn't get to my next paintings until after I'd gone and met Jackie, Nate and Heather at the bar. We didn't get back until my place until two and considering each painting takes about two hours it was pushing 3-4 by the time I even got to begin Jackie's painting. Initially I was afraid this would impact the painting, and to an extent it did, but the biggest impact it had was on the photograph!
I was lucky with Nate and Heather because it was Jackie who was there to oversee everything.
With Jackie, the photo responsibility was on my shoulders and as a result, I ended up with many, many blurry photos.
However, if there's one person who can still look pretty in a blurry shot it's Jackie. Her heart shines through everything she does.
I'm happy with how her paint job turned out. It reminds me of some sort of Celtic fairy.
I wish I could've got a better shot to truly do her and the paint job justice, but despite the troubles I'm glad it turned out as well as it did. Jackie is a true friend and will always shine on in my heart. I think she looks beautiful and am very happy that she decided to be a part of this project.

Matti Paints - Subjects Heather and Nate

The next canvas came as an incredible surprise to me, but one I was incredibly thankful for.
I was six when I first moved to North Bay in balmy summer of 1993 and the first boy my age I met was Nate. He liked dinosaurs. I liked dinosaurs. A friendship was born.

Pictured: Friendship

Nate was my best friend for many years. We went to school together, we hung out together. There were good times. There were bad times. But the world kept turning regardless and we both grew up. We went to different high schools and because of this our friendship after grade 8 almost evaporated. We didn't really keep contact with each other and we began to run in different circles. As a result we became the people we are today (as is so often the case). But because of this, I always felt that there was some kind of unfinished business that we never really got to get any kind of closure on. Sometimes a friendship just stagnates and after a while you just sort of... forget about it.

This was our fourth attempt at a picture.

Meeting Nathan and his sister Heather at the bar was a great opportunity for me, not just to add to my canvas collection, but to reconnect with them. These were the people I grew up with after all!
Heather has certainly changed a lot since I last saw her. She's quite ambitious and she's planning a rather amazing project that I think you all should check out HERE!

The painting process started in a similar way to the others. They each picked out their songs and colours and then we got down to work. Funny enough they each chose "Strange Days" by Matthew Good Band, which is an AMAZING song of course, but I can't help but wonder if they were commenting on something... Perhaps the strangeness of the coincidence that we were all in town. Perhaps it was just life in general. Whatever it was, it was pretty great.

The first time I sat in front of Nathan and began to paint I felt a well of emotion which hadn't happened before. Nathan is for all intents and purposes my oldest friend, and as a result the process was almost surreal. There were moments I felt that no time had passed, and there were moments where it seems like several eternities ago. The feeling of painting Heather was equally strange and surreal. Here was someone I grew up with but at this point I no almost nothing about her. Now, I feel like I've at least got to begin to reestablish a connection with these two who I was once so close with.

Now something that they might not realize right away, and perhaps I shouldn't mention it, but for the first time the picture we chose together as a group is not the picture I'm going with for the collection. I actually went and changed the picture to the second choice because it really shows off who they are. It shows their relationship to each other in a unique way, and it has a sense of fun that wasn't present in the other one. Does this make me a bad artist? Probably. But no one can argue the fantastic results!

I am currently looking for new canvases! To be a part of this project, click HERE to contact me.