Gather Together

24 in x 30 in,

10/24

One of my dearest friends from fellowship asked me to develop two paintings that would fit in with the colors and themes of his home - one for the living room and one for the dining room. This one is the picture for his dining room, which has dark sage walls with ivory trim, a wood floor and a beautiful wooden table with an orange-red finish. He chose a fairly straightforward painting I had done to base this one off of ("All Melanins are Beautiful"), but when I laid down the grid on the canvas, I realized that the pattern didn't transpose well to the larger sized canvas he wanted. So I came up with the idea of insets inside each of the larger shapes, made up of the same color as the larger shape but mixed with either black or white to give interest. I also decided to lay down the insets with texture by bouncing the paint on the canvas and applying it with an old brush whose bristles had gotten splayed with use (turns out these brushes are the best for applying acrylic impasto in my work). I titled the piece "Gather Together" in recognition of the dining room in which it would be hung - a sacred place where family and friends convene to share good food, good conversation and good company.