Sustained Investigation 1

This artwork is part of a sustained investigation series focusing on the question; How can I represent the journey food goes through from field to plate in artwork format? This is a pretty open question if I'm being honest however it leaves so much space for interpretation that the ideas I can connect with it are never ending. The artwork itself is an acrylic painting of an old Italian Farmer with his roosters. He is in his barn or house and there is an open door showing the vast expanse of rolling hills in Tuscany. There are plants and crops hanging above his head and hay bales in his fields. The picture is on canvas and is 12" x 10 1/2". I created it at home with my red, blue and yellow as well as black and white acrylic paint and I sped up drying with a hair dryer. It took probably about six hours all and all but I'm super pleased with how it came out and it is probably my favorite of my own acrylic paintings yet.

As mentioned above this piece is part of four sustained investigation artworks focusing on the journey food takes from farm to table, the farmer is the first and an instrumental aspect of food creation. The farmer sows and tends to the crops and the animals, if it were not for the farmer than the food would not exist or would all be processed factory food. So in the chronological order of how food gets to the table from somewhere out in the ethos, the farmer is the very first step. Being an old farmer, I had to give him wispy white hair somewhat gone from the stresses of the farm, olive skin from being under the Tuscan sun all day and he is a laboring man so he's somewhat in shape in reflection to his age. The roosters are a personal connection and are going to connect all the pieces in this series.

I'm really pleased with this and there is nothing I really would change except for some minor details one would only notice if you really looked at it. One thing is that under his moustache his skin is not completely filled in and I wish I had noticed that. The other thing is that I should have done more layers in the doorway and I don't love the way the houses look. I'm really proud of how the farmer looks, people have always been a major challenge for me and I try to avoid using them in my art as much as possible in fear of screwing it up. However I wanted to go semi-abstract with this piece to make the man however I wanted him to look, I feel like this worked really well with the whimsicality of the piece and I'm pleased with that. Overall I'm very proud of this and quite excited for the next part; DUE, IL MERCATO.