| The
Unforgiven was named after one of the best songs from Metallica's
Black Album. The song is a portrait of a man whose life
is wasted trying to please others; he reflects on the end of his
days and upon all the wasted opportunities. The Black Album
was released in 1991, just as I was starting college; this was a
song that resonated strongly with me, and Metallica had completely
altered my worldview. Which, quite honestly, is what college is
supposed to do.
This
painting is fairly solid, and was one that I spent a lot of time
to assemble. It feels, at looks, to me as a work in frustration.
You can see the foreground shapes and Liquid Paper thrusts that
aren't consistent, and the background is just mud. I think I was
trying to recreate that magic in a bottle that Superunknown had,
but it just never felt right. Wherever
I May Roam is very similar, but that painting is a little
more cosmic and impressed people more than this one.
This
likely reflects my own perfectionism toward my own art, as I'm pretty
critical at times. This is one of those situations that I would
like to go back and fix, but "director's cut" paintings
just don't work. Especially when you're dealing in watercolors.
Still,
the green is nice. And the song is a classic, like most of the music
released in 1991. |
