I'm currently working on a piece for Modified Arts Gallery of an elk with a human eye - as though the human is wearing a mask. This is a recurring theme in my work - the idea of wearing a mask and taking on its persona. I thought to myself, 'Where did this come from? What was the first painting?' and I laughed when I remembered...
I can thank my mutant chihuahua, Lucky G, for the inspiration as one night two years ago he heard a noise out in the yard and went to investigate. In the desert in the pitch dark there's no telling what's outside. It could've been a javelina or coyote. Moments after he bolted outside I heard a scuffle and him yelping. Next thing I knew he scurried inside reeking of skunk along with a newly brandished large bleeding gash behind his ear. The wound healed in time. The smell however.. well, it took 6 months to completely get it out of his long hair.
I decided to commemorate the skunk's victory by depicting him as a Lucha Libre wrestler with my dog's blood on his nails and a halo above his head. I laugh every time I see this painting.
