What it is:
A series of paintings that tell a story. The painting style is photographic realism, the story is allegorical. The paintings are all 24” high, and vary from 24” to 48” wide. They are meant to be viewed in sequence, like a comic strip. There are no words.

The story:
The setting is a parking lot above the Cliff House, overlooking the ocean at sunset. A woman in a harlequin costume (the trickster) stands alone on the cliff, juggling a set of “fuzzy dice” (the kind commonly attached to the rearview mirrors of classic cars.) Cars start to pull into the lot behind her, and some people get out of the cars and come to the edge of the cliff. They almost look like actors on a stage. The people interact with each other, but almost no one seems to notice the trickster, even when she does things like shape-shift into a dog, or split herself into three personalities (Harlot Queen, Young Fate, Black Fate). The angel of death makes an appearance, as a guy dressed in a black leather jacket, walking a black dog. There is an artist present, and the artist sees the tricksters. The people who have come to see the sunset include an older couple who are getting married (or renewing their vows), a pregnant woman and her partner, some single people who connect, a sad woman in a broken car, and an old woman who is very alone. Plus a wedding photographer, a musician, a motorcyclist, some dogs, and many cars. Everyone is in their own little world, and there are several concurrent dramas involving the “actors”. The trickster moves around unseen, sometimes influencing the action. Whenever she juggles, things start to happen. As the sun reaches the point of dropping below the horizon, all the dramas are resolved one way or another and everyone stops to watch the sun. As the sky darkens, the cars pull away, and the scene empties.

How it was done:
In the fall of 2002 I had a simple outline of the story I wanted to tell, and I took some preliminary photos of the setting. Then I managed to convince about 50 friends and acquaintances to assist me with this project. Some drove the cars (including 2 Edsels, a ‘66 Impala convertible and a ‘65 Mustang.) Some took photos (46 rolls of film, plus 200 digital photos.) Some posed as various characters. Some helped with organization and production - the scene was shot on four different occasions, and required the use of step ladders in trucks, model releases, “stage direction”, getting props, contacting people and coordinating schedules, etc. Since it is a public place, I was open to the possibility of the unexpected, and we ended up shooting some strangers and getting model releases from them afterwards. Most of the photos were taken in December 2002 and January 2003. CLICK HERE to go to the "Crew shots" page. After all the photos were taken I spent about three months going through them, selecting the ones I wanted to use, scanning them, manipulating them, and putting them together into the formats I would use to paint from. I printed out the color images on 8.5” x 11” sheets of paper, using my ink jet printer. Then I drew a graph-paper like grid over the surface of the paper with pencil and ball-point pen. I drew a larger grid on the canvas and used it as a guide to making a pencil sketch of the picture on the paper.

The painting process:
I paint in acrylics on canvas, using many very thin layers, in a process called “glazing.” First I "sketch" the image (using the pencil drawing as a guide) with a soft # 1 brush and a deep red liquid acrylic. Then I cover the whole surface with a transparent orange glaze. Then I start painting the picture, working from background to foreground, and using glazes to push and pull the elements in the space and to tie them together. These paintings take a long time to develop and sometimes as I’m painting, I get new ideas or change my mind about the scene. When that happens, I edit the image, so that the finished painting may look somewhat different from the digital study.


Miscellaneous:
The size of these paintings is bigger than I usually paint, and this was causing a great deal of difficulty in my (very small) studio. I had to stop after the first painting was completed and completed reconfigure my studio, getting rid of some furniture and building myself a wall easel to accommodate the bigger paintings.

A “plain english” explanation of the “Trickster” project: What it is and how it was done

Notes on inspiration and symbolism of "Trickster Throws the Dice"

See photos of the crew who helped at the shoots