The Wedding March - Original James O'Barr Artwork

Oil on canvas - 12" x 16"

(Watermark and website name are not on the actual painting!)

I've been wrestling with trying to get a hold on what the Impressionists did, Monet and Renoir and Hassam, trying to understand their color theory and the use of paint straight from the tube to suggest light and form, with some success. I'm mad at myself for dismissing it for so long, thinking of it as lazy painting when the reality is it is 10 times more difficult than painting straight forms in premixed colors with well defined edges. Every choice has to be made before you touch brush to canvas, which requires an inordinate amount of thinking before hand, before the fun begins.
I'm not so dense that I think these paintings will appeal to my average fan. They are, after all, pretty pictures in bright colors, not something I am known for. But I am compelled to do them regardless. Grow or wither and die is the general rule. I am, however, attempting to paint images with substance even if they are in primary colors.
This painting, "The Wedding March", was inspired by a friend who is making a terrible choice, but it is hers to make: She is leaving, literally, life behind, represented by all the greens and blues and violets on the left side of the painting, for an existence that will be confining and suffocating, represented by the grey cold wedge structures on the right, narrowing  perspective, eliminating all breathing room. It's not a fun thing to watch people you care about hurt themselves, make poor decisions, but at least I got a nice painting out of it. Now I just wait for the phone call and the tears.