Bleachwave

Summary: There was a time when I was considering starting a business where I would paint and sell “re-imagined” movie posters based on cult classic films. One of the very first ones that I knew I wanted to try was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (directed by Michel Gondry and written by Charlie Kaufman). There’s an ethereal quality to that film that I felt would translate well into the somewhat expressive style of my paintings. I also just wanted an excuse to do a portrait of Kate Winslet, given that I have less experience with the female face.

Although Kate’s character Clementine changes her hair color numerous times throughout the film, I knew I wanted her hair to be bright red, which would contrast the grays and blues of another personal favorite scene involving Jim Carrey’s character Joel. The scene in question is when Joel, in a dream, appears in front of a broken down old house with his rusty childhood bicycle; he looks up to the sky in frustration and fear as he tries to fight against the memory erasing process happening as he sleeps. Compositionally, I made it so Joel is looking up to the sky, but also looking up at Clementine. Clementine is looking away, however, because Joel has already been erased from her mind.

This painting signified one of my first attempts to start using watercolor paints again (I used to call them "my least favorite 2D medium"). It is also one of the few select works I completed at the art studio I temporarily leased in downtown Columbus, Ohio.