Form and/or Story?

Petey & Pockey
8 x 8"
oil on canvas panel

Ongoing conversations with Annette about illustration vs painting, building a history of paint, overworking paintings, scumbling, and the difference between a morgue, a museum, and a studio. You shoulda' been there is all I can say.

Been doing some birds. I start with the fluttery gesture of birds. I am fascinated with the bars of the cage like I am the rungs of Windsor chairs. If you squint your eyes you can see the silhouette of Mister Black behind the bars on the bottom right 4th of the canvas.


So a story begins to form. Is it an illustration now? What if I tell you that Petey and Pockey were our pet parakeets that used to sit together on my sons' shoulder.


They were in- separable. You could get the male, Petey to hop on your finger and the female, Pockey, would follow. But you could not get her to come to you alone. That is the story but you wouldn't necessarily know it from looking at the painting.


So if I am painting and the paint I apply is dictated by the shape of the images that tell the story then the painting is illustrative? And if the paint I apply is dictated by elements and principles of design then it is about painting? What if the paint I apply is dictated by both? Is that possible?

Design-wise I am drawn to fluttery things like birds and ferns. And dark silhouettes that have crisp edges and seem solid and immovable, like Mister Black, Windsor chairs, and bird cage rungs. I also love stories, to hint at stories, to give people a peek at a page of a possible story. Ahhh!!! what am I doing? That is all I know right now.

We will be hanging my "show" at Night Sky in downtown Troy, Ohio sometime this week. It will be up thru the end of Sept with rotating paintings. Hope you will stop by & see Mister Black and the gang in person several times during that two months. If there is a certain painting you want to see please email me: s@suzanneally.com Or you can always...
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