The Art of David Boyd, Jr.

10/7/2015 9:22:13 AM

Some people say they paint verbs, or a feeling... I guess I do to a certain degree. I see something out of the corner of my eye that demands that I put it on canvas. Sometimes I see something that I wish I could pack up, put in my pocket and carry home with me. Sometimes I see something that has aged to perfection and I get a sick feeling in my stomach that it may not be around forever. More and more frequently I have been experiencing this last one the most... my favorite tow truck in my father's hometown, my favorite oyster house in East Point, FL, a wooden shrimp boat in Carabelle, FL and now this sign from Buchanan, TN.

I come by this sentiment naturally. My parents bought a house built in the 1830's for $25 in 1975 to keep it from being demolished by the city to make way for a new parking lot. They cut the antebellum house into 4 pieces and moved them to a piece of property just outside of downtown. My grandmothers property was seized to make way for a road expansion that never came to fruition, the house on the property was designed by my grandfather and built by my grandfather, my dad, and my uncle by hand just after WW2, bit by bit depending on what they could afford. The county's hand was forced to build the road because they needed to spend the money or the federal government was not going to continue to give that amount anymore. Pork Barrel politics at its best.

We are always in such a hurry to tear down something old and beautiful to make way for something newer and better. In our society it's a disease. We all want to stay young, we nip and tuck and inject. We bulldoze cozy family homes for cold McMansions, we tear down old brick buildings with beautiful windows to build glass buildings with cubicles. The excuses are that it's just too expensive to fix up... but we will spend any amount of money to keep looking good or build something big and shiny to impress the neighbors.

I painted this sign early in my career mostly because I was obsessed with this design period in the 1950's called Googie Art or Post Populux. The blend of science and design happened during this time period when the atomic age was upon us and everything from home furnishings, advertising, and transportation looked like a plane or something atomic... think- the fins on a '59 Cadillac, boomerang shaped tables or weird "satellites" revolving around oddly organically shaped aluminum signs with bright, beautiful neon.

Now, this sign was obviously repurposed... like a discarded Holiday Inn sign had been painted and reused to light the way to Cypress Bay. While visiting my mother-in-law a few weeks back we passed the site of the sign only to find it missing. On our return I noticed that it was actually still there - but laying in the ground. An innocent bystander in some type of collision. Lots of glass, skid marks and spray paint were involved. It just lay there in the grass all mangled up. I thought seriously about finding a trailer and hauling it off, but it doesn't belong to me. If, upon my return, it is still on the ground, I will pack it up and install it in my backyard. I'm sure my wife will love that...

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10/2/2015 10:10:58 AM

Well, the 30 in 30 challenge has come to a close. I have had time to reflect on what I learned from this challenge and what I would like to take from it.

I set out to challenge myself to do 30 plein air pieces in 30 days... did I accomplish my goal? No, no I did not. Did I fail in my challenge, yes, yes I did. But the real failure would be not to learn anything from said failure.

As a high school teacher I tried to teach my students that failure was OK, and not just ok, it was a good thing. They thought I had lost my mind. They go from class to class all day long only being rewarded for the right answers. How does that help us the really learn about ourselves?? Pat yourself on the back, look at all the stuff you got right! That doesn't build much character or self awareness in my book. Even in independent education we struggle to teach students that the only failure is a missed opportunity to learn from a failure. That failure is an important part of the process and maybe BEST way to learn. I could rattle off a hundred quotes about learning from things that didn't go your way, picking up the pieces and moving FORWARD. Winston Churchill coined my favorite, "Success consists of moving from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." If I had learned that lesson in high school or college I would be a lot further down the path as an artist and a person, although I am very content with where I am now, and I look forward to the rest of the journey.

Here is what I learned:

1. I did more plein air pieces at home than I ever have before: 14 pieces. I have painted more than that out of town at events or on vacation, but that's easy! I will pat myself on the back here.

2. I drive around a look for something to paint too much! I should curb this curiosity to see what is around the next corner and just dedicate to painting what catches my eye first or challenging myself to paint something that may not grab me by the boo boo.

3. Sometimes LIFE gets in the way. Sometimes ART gets in the way. The next time I do a 30 in 30 I am going to do it on my own and not on someone else clock. I should have looked at my calendar and said, "this is a bad month to try this." I had workshops to teach and prep for, I attended a 4 day workshop, I had a show, we had a baby shower out of town (where I did 2 paintings) blah, blah, blah. All excuses!! But I should have been honest with myself. I think I thought I could rock out 4 paintings a day of 6-8 days like I do at events and be done with it.

I enjoy the camaraderie of doing these when everyone else is, but I don't post to Leslie Saeta's blog with my paintings and I don't even share pieces that are unsuccessful... 

4. Working small is NO GOOD for me. It is constraining, it hampers my ability to enjoy the brushwork and I just don't enjoy it. Ad you know what? It's OK!!

I am sure I will continue to marinade in the 30 in 30 and come up with more things I have learned, but at the close of the 30 in 30... this is where I am... where are you?

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