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Elaine on Stage

36" x 26", oil on canvas, 2002, private collection

With the opening of my Field to Canvas show of local farmers portraits just over a month away, and since I'll be previewing that show during all of May with details and in-production images, I thought I'd wrap up April with the last full-image painting you'll see here until June.

This portrait is of Elaine Secord, lead singer of Squirm, a five-piece Toronto band that played the clubs in the '90s and recorded one CD (for which I created the artwork) before disbanding by the year 2000 or thereabouts. I used to see them perform a lot; we were friends, but I also thought they were quite good and enjoyed each show (no matter how smoky the venue).

I planned to paint more rock 'n' roll pictures with Squirm as my subjects, but I never got around to that. However, I took dozens of photos for the CD and decided to use many of the shots of Elaine in a whole bunch of paintings (like this one) and possibly more to come.

This painting's made up of two photos: one of Elaine, and a separate one of Tim Martin, guitarist, which adds much-needed interest (and rock 'n' roll ambiance) in the background.
Also of note: this is among my first figurative works in oil made right after my Interiors series and you can see that I'm still figuring out the medium.


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