Did you ever do something that took you down a road you never expected, then inspired you to do something you never set out to do in the first place?

That is what happened with this painting, in fact that happens all to often with my work.

Being a painter is not a straight forward journey, but rather a plunge into the abyss.

There were all these pictures on my studio floor, some were drawn , some were torn out of old magazines and some were downloaded from my broken down Mac.

Felt pen in my hand, confusion in my mind and perfection in my heart, I started drawing. The felt pen soon converged with a brush, which in turn began the spreading of paint. 

I don't really know what this whole thing was about,  I felt a sort of defeat, maybe even betrayal by this process I had always trusted.

I tossed my brushes into the cleaning jug and went to bed.

As the morning came and I rose to still exhaustion,  a faint curiosity and blanket of excitement rolled over me. I said to myself "relax" don't go into the studio yet, it's just a painting and probably a piece of shit anyway.  I took my time, I brushed  my teeth, I shaved and washed my face until my curiosity got the better of me

Its exactly 4 paces to the door of my studio, from the bathroom.

I gotta be honest, I was blown away by what I saw. There was texture, lines of different lengths, sizes, shapes and colour and figures and a still life. Under the still life which is sideways on the canvas I noticed writing, cursive writing.

The pièce de résistance on the top left corner was the Canadian flag flapping in the wind behind 2 performers.

A celebration, wouldn't you say.

Honestly, I didn't have a definitive  recollection of painting any of it. 

The painting  introduced it's self to me as "Canada Day". It seemed obvious to me  because it's about a party, a big fucking party with a Canadian flag.

Where do you think all of the content came from?

How could it not be premeditated?

I can only imagine the spectacle of this piece as something 4 times larger.

Original art is so special because every piece is a finger print, a unique experience followed by a unique finale', something that starts from nothing and arrives at inspiration.

I hope you get a chance to see this piece, live, because it's truly an original with a multitude of layers and experience.

By the way, this is the first painting of my series "Urban Culture" which has over thirty paintings in it now.

Take a look in my Gallery for more treasures and let me know what you like or don't like.