Chi

As I continued to paint this series, generating new ideas for patterns became more difficult. My inspiration for this painting came from “Jeepers Creepers 2.” Once I saw the brown colors in the film, I wanted to use them. I placed the dots in an arc path. Although this one is still in my possession, I was pleased with how this one turned out.

acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Eta

This second painting of the four paintings I have left in this series. It reminds me how difficult it is to paint on top of yellow. The pattern is a repeat from the bigger paintings.

acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Delta

Of the 24 "The Greek Code" paintings, I only have four left. Here is the first of the remaining four. It is also one of the first four 6" x 6"'s I painted.

acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

A Shift in Patterns

So, does this pattern remind you of any particular film? Maybe if I gave you a choice of the red pill or the blue pill? Does that ring any bells?

Sigma, acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"


Hopefully by now you’ve guessed, “The Matrix”. By the way it sold not too long after I painted it. When I did this piece I started to imitate the way a string of lights implies motion. In films about Las Vegas casinos there are often flashing signs implying motion. Anyway, this particular painting marked a turning point for the patterns I picked. I had run out of geometric patterns to try; so, I started to look for other shapes.

I do love going to see films, both blockbusters and art-house. During the summer I came up with designs to complete the set of twenty-four. I found them when I watched films during the summer of 2003.

Unfortunately I neglected to take pictures of the remaining works from this series. I didn’t count on them selling the way they did, nor did I figure that I would continue painting in this direction. Before Hurricane Katrina I had seven of them left. Now I only have four left - three sold since I am back. One is from the original four. Another one is from before the one above. And two more were painted after this one.

The Greek Code

Here are some more of my small dot paintings with Greek names. The picture was taken at Anglade-Barthelemy Gallery, a co-op gallery on Royal Street. I exhibited art there 1997 through 2004 when it closed for good. By the time this picture was taken I had already sold a few from the series.

 After using a number of predictable patterns, I became frustrated. What pattern was I going to use next? At this point I was stumped. It was the summer of 2003 when the answer came to me . . .

Alpha, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Theta, Kappa, Lambda, Mu, Nu, Omicron, Pi, Rho acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6" each

Going to Small

So, how did I end up painting such small paintings? Well, it all started with a gallery located in Algiers Point called Lallybroch Gallery. The artist organization ARTinA (Art in Algiers), which I belong to, was invited to have a show at the gallery. Because the gallery was small, the artists were asked to bring small artwork for the show.

When I went to the art supply store, I zeroed in on canvases that were 6” x 6” in size. Similar to the eight pieces I created, I painted dots over a triangle pattern. The paintings below are the first four I painted. In May of 2002 I saw the film “Enigma” which concerns a group of British young people who cracked the Nazi code during World War II. Seeing the film inspired me further in the direction begun with the first eight paintings. I was simply intrigued with patterns as a visual expression, not as a hidden message. Then I had to find titles for these paintings. I settled on the names of the letters from the Greek Alphabet. They often turn up in our pop culture and I thought they would be appropriate for my new paintings. Thus I named the four: Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta.

The reception was in early July of 2002. In New Orleans that is a hot and humid time of year. Unfortunately for everyone who attended the opening, the gallery was hot. As I wandered around, my fellow artists and my family were excited about these small pieces. They told me I should do more of them.

When the show came down, none of the works had sold. That didn’t discourage me from painting more canvases that size. Besides the ARTinA Festival was coming up in October and I figured small pieces would be an ideal item to sell . . .

Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta, 6" x 6"'s, acrylic on canvas

Code Pink

Pink was my color choice for my last painting of this batch. I chose pink over magenta. Too many folks would not recognize the name.

 This painting proved a lot more fun when I played with colors on top of pink. It gave me the opportunity to vary dot sizes in rendering an "X" pattern. There's no message. "X" was just a design device.

 When "Code Pink" won a first place ribbon, I was definitely "tickled pink." Many people have told me they liked this painting. So, this concludes the story of the eight paintings.

acrylic on canvas, 22" x 28"

Code Lime

After using the three primary colors and three secondary colors, I had to decide on what color to use next. I wanted colors with single names and not hyphenated names involving the first six colors. That lead me to choose "lime." Some might argue "Lime Green" would be the full name. I figured "lime" was enough information in naming a color.

Having used a double spiral in another painting, I figured I'd use a single spiral in this painting. Passersby have often stopped to gaze at it and then talk to me about it. I guess that's better than having my piece ignored.

 Again, like the two paintings just before this one, I had trouble with putting colors on top of my background colors. I had to mix colors even more for this painting. The result was a more muted painting.

acrylic on canvas, 22" x 28"