10,240? Let’s look at the numbers closely
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Capturing the drive to Polihale Beach
I’ve always wanted to re-capture an image of a drive I had during my visit to the Hawaiian island of Kauai. It was a lazy afternoon and my wife and I were heading to Polihale Beach on the Westside. You can only get there by driving through miles of red dirt roads, and sugar cane fields.
I clearly remember that sleepy afternoon, as I almost fell asleep during the long drive. As I was dosing off, I can recall seeing these beautiful streaks of reds, greens and blues.
This image would be locked in my head for the next 7 years.
Photo credit: http://tinyurl.com/3ysmxl2
The Dots were inspired by this photo
“We seem to share a similar affinity for space and content” – Ian.
My painting was inspired by this photo taken by my photographer friend Ian. Ian drove across Canada with his 3 kids last summer and he snapped this shot as they zoomed across Saskatchewan. When I saw this photo I knew that I had to create The Long Drive.
The idea of the dots came from this shot. I couldn’t help but imagined what it would be like to be in the back seat looking out the window. We’ve all have been on a similar drive at one time or another with blurry streaks of colours whistling by, and perhaps dizzying spots of fading colours as we drift off in the back seat of a car.
10,240 Dots Later: The Long Drive was completed.
Me and my new painting. It’s difficult to tell here but the painting is made up of 10,240 dots. I am very happy with this one.
This painting consisted of 2 canvases, each measuring 4 feet by 5 feet. The end result is a full 10 foot landscape.
I would take me 3 months from start to finish. I would end up spending much of my time placing, removing, and replacing over 30,000 dots.
The finished product: Nov 5, 2010
I am with my sidekick at the finish line. I am so glad I don’t have to deal with dots for a long time.
A view from the bottom
Here is a close up of the dots. I love the transition of from green to blue.
A view from the top
As you can see the dots do not line up perfectly. It was almost impossible to keep them in a straight line. You can also see some of the over-spraying from the paint.
Avoiding my Orange phase
The original idea for the 2 canvases was for a painting that would go on this wall. It was more of a filler and not what I wanted to paint. I thought of painting large cherry blossoms, however I just did not feel it and could not convince myself to complete it. The orange canvases would sit here for months until I convinced my wife that I had to do something else. I can’t paint if my heart is not into it.
Getting ready
This photo was taken sometime in late August. We had just spent the morning picking up some new brushes and were excited to get going. Whenever I paint my daughter Cyan would always paints with me. It’s a special time for both of us. I often play classical music and we just keep to ourselves and do our own thing. I don’t tell her what to paint and she calls every one of her painting her masterpiece.
The Apprentice
Cyan is a natural. I am so glad that I get to share my love for art with her. I really just let her do her own thing. I provide the paint and some simple instructions for mixing the paint and the rest is up to her.
I’m seeing Spots and Dots
I really wanted to do something different with this painting. Here I’ve placed a print out to help me visualize the idea. I would leave this on the canvas for the next 10 days to let my mind accept what I was about to do. My friend Alice would convince me to go for a tighter grid and less mechanical approach.
Creating a base
I clearly knew what I wanted to paint, so it was really easy to just get going. Once I knew what I wanted to paint it all felt very natural. I worked with 3 brushes and often layered my colours on top of each other to create movement and texture.
Plenty of time to play
Sometimes we just danced. Cyan got some new boots here and wanted to dance away the afternoon.
Had a little help from a friend
I used painter’s tape as guides to help me stay straight as I work across 2 canvases.
Painting into the night
Sometimes I was so into it that I would paint like a madman. This would have been midnight in mid-September.
How did I know?
How did I know the outcome? I created this print out on my printer. I created the dots at actual size on my computer to help me visualize the finished product.
Competition. It exists on all levels
Look at this, Cyan finished her painting before me. She was really into Madeline, and this was her interpretation. I love it, especially her touch on the hat.
Creating texture and motion
I wanted to creating a moving texture across the canvas. The idea was to recreate a dreamy slow motion.
Working my way down
Trying to paint across 10 feet was extremely challenging. The paint dried really fast so there wasn’t much time to play. Here I am finishing the rust dirt at the bottom. It often took some good patience to layer colours. I think I should have gone darker in the end.
Happier Days
This is when I started seeing spots. I would update my Facebook profile declaring that I was seeing spots, and this little game would go for a few weeks.Â
I really wanted to go freestyle with the dots and didn’t want to use a ruler or guides. I was hoping for a natural, non-linear or mechanical look. Good idea, however this approach to prove to be very challenging as I tend to wander and every little shift would cause me to remove and re-apply thousands of dots.
3 A.M.
I spent endless days and nights consumed by this painting. Nothing really mattered until this was completed.
Some nights I just couldn’t sleep. I was so bothered by the dots. They got in my head. Here, it’s 3 A.M. I would have been placing and removing dots for hours. My wife often came and reminded me to go to bed. I remember I eyes were so sore here, and the dots would give me headaches for days.
Getting help
Here is an example of a half completed canvas where I was unsatisfied and decided to remove and start from scratch. Most of the time I had a little help. Cyan was always happy to take them off. Here, she placed the dots on all her fingers and would hop around like a frog, then throw away the dots, then repeat. Madness runs in the family.
It was Madness
This is probably 3 weeks into playing with dots. As you can see, the left panel is good. The dots on the right panel, I would remove entirely. And then came back and removed the left panel as well. It was madness.
This was probably a good day
You get a good view of what the finished painting looks like before all the dots.
Things must have been going well on this day. Sometimes I would do a few lines before work 
Over and Over again
I must have removed and repositioned over 40,000 dots by the time that I was done. There was no way around it. The canvases just weren’t squared, therefor it was almost impossible getting them straight. Once you have a few dots that started wandering you wouldn’t know until it was too late.
It gets messy
Sometimes I would spill paint or my daughter would accidentally leave me more paint than I needed. I’m still scrubbing off paint on the hardwood floor.
Losing it here.
Have you ever stared at thousands of dots that were placed a few inches in front of you for days? This was one of those moments where I was ready to call it quits and throw the canvases away. I had headaches at the last week of playing with dots.
10,240 Dots
This is me after 3 months on this painting. I was finally satisfied with the dots. I actually ran out of the white dots and settled with a different product that were the same size but slightly different. I would be disappointed later on because the product absorbed the black paint and produced poor quality dots.
Wrestling with Dots
The removable stickers were not ideal. They were not that compatible with the canvas surface, so I often had to heat them up and flatten them down with a squeegee.
Keeping them down
You’re looking at over 5,ooo dots on the canvas. I had heated these with a hair dryer to warm up the adhesive. This worked well but when we went outside the cold caused the decals to lift, so I am working away with a credit card to squeegee them down. My Cyan is a little excited here.
An almost perfect panel
Getting ready to lay down the black paint. I’m a little nervous here because I’m just not sure what the result will be.
A flood of Black
Here I am using a black flat paint to flood the canvas. It was cold outside so I had to work really fast because the adhesive on the decals were shrinking and started to lift off.
I was quite upset when one of the spray cans exploded on me. It leaked and sprayed a sheet of paint which ended seeping under some of the decals. I wish I would have recorded a video.
A slow process for a much anticipated result
Both canvas were covered in black paint. I had a lot of fun creating words and images along the way.
Taking off the dots was a much faster process. Not too much thinking here.
Getting close to the end
Here I am removing the last of the dots from the second canvas.
Unveiling the painting to myself
As you can see by the expression on my face I’m very happy with the result. Here I’m exposing one side to get a sneak peek at the painting. The result was not perfect. I would do things differently if I was to do it again, like spraying indoors in a warmer environment. The imperfection of the dots give this piece more character.
