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?

To support this project please check out the KICKSTARTER account.

Follow us on FACEBOOK and TWITTER

Thanks for being so awesome. xoxo

Matti Paints - Catchup Pt. 2

Shannon and Hayley:

Painting these two was a blast. Learning from working with the sisters, I wanted to make sure that the colour choice was more limited, and the time was also more restrained.

We did many things differently for this one: For one, Shannon and Hayley each picked their songs for the other person, and when the song played, I had to paint the one who the song had been chosen for. Again, we went with ten songs since I figured it would be better to keep them together and it put pressure on me to work faster.

In the end I think I got peacocks. Two beautiful, lovely friendly peacocks. The experience itself was dynamic and exciting. And I have to laugh that there will forever be people who think them to be lesbians simply because I asked them to be painted together.

Kevin:
This is Kevin

I have long admired Kevin's talent and was very excited when I finally got the chance to paint him.

His colour choices were in my extreme comfort zone so I feel like I really got to explore my wild side and attempt to add a whole new level of detail to the pictures. However, I found the music to be a lot more somber than I was expecting which I think reflected a bit in the final product. I ended up giving him angel wings that ended up looking more like marble on his skin than anything else.

Presenting Kevin