The Kiss

Original - Oil on canvas
24" x 36"

This painting is more figurative than my regular Plastic Space Abstract pieces. I began as usual with a realistic drawing and began abstracting the couple but they kept returning to a more realistic pose. It was the light that shines on their profiles that dictated the overall balance of this piece. Sometimes my paintings take over and so I tend to go with it and see where it takes me. This one surprised me in the outcome and has its own balance between abstract and realism. I was still able to capture the Plastic Space elements in the background and blend the couple so they flow with the sweeping motion of this kiss. I worked in layers beginning with the couple and then into the background careful to balance the direction of the eye as the viewer explores the couple to the background and back again to the couple.

Through the years I have watched the moral codes change and become very relaxed in the media with folks changing partners like they would change clothes, and as a result affecting the general population of young people of today. As part on my positive couples series I wanted to capture that one moment in the lives of two people that have made a commitment to each other to be partners in life through that one kiss given in public view to prove to all that they are one. It is that moment when they have become soul mates and taken on the task of thinking of their partner in life as much as they think of themselves. It is a lasting love that will grow and mature through hard times and good, supporting each other as the years pass, as they have family and grow old together.