Barn Dance

Description

I really enjoy country, western, and bluegrass music. I wanted to capture the excitement of a Saturday night barn dance. The band is based on Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs' legendary bluegrass group. The potluck food, barn setting, and dancers provided me with a lot of elements to compose with. When I did the initial drawing, my wife recognized the main male figure as a man we had seen clogging at the Fiddlin' Pig, a BBQ restaurant in North Carolina. I wanted to draw viewers to the composition by the subject, as well as the strong color and contrast in the finished painting. However, upon closer observation there are things that challenge the viewers’ expectations. Things are happening pictorially that are not possible in traditional perspective. Some viewers do not initially perceive the simultaneous, multiple perspectives as they are “caught up” in the excitement of the imagery.