The Making of "RAIN MAN"

Week two takes us behind the scenes in the step-by-step creation of "Rain Man". As sometimes is the case, I began with an initial free form making of marks on the canvas. With Rain Man, the beginning of the painting had very little to do with the final painting. This is the essence of my process, allowing the canvas to "tell me" where it wants the final painting to resolve.

I began with an instinctual gesture—light scraping strokes of gray, white and black. It established a mood that I had no idea where it would go, but the story was set in motion.

As I added layers to the canvas I was increasingly disappointed with the result. I was reaching the end of the first act of the story and was needing a plot twist to propel me into the second act. Often times the first layer or layers take me in a direction that simply isn't going to work. Rather than get frustrated, I use this creative block as inspiration to try something dramatically different.

The creative decision soon emerge. I rarely add human figures to my abstracts, but the big plot twist my creative brain wanted me to take with this painting was to add people walking in the rain. I set my scraping tools aside and picked up a brush and a water bottle. Time for rain! And so the first draft of this second act was to add a man with an umbrella walking in the rain, and two other figures in the distance.

As I approached the end of the second act I focused my story on just this lone figure and removed his companions. I saw clearly now the "story" of this painting. I just needed to push forward with completing the mission.

This move into the third act of the story helped me create the final touches that resulted in one of my favorite pieces of art. I defined the horizon, added a "pathway" toward that horizon, and further defined the Rain Man figure so he felt real, albeit impressionistic. An early layer had gold paint in it and decided to leave that in when I scraped the land and sky beyond the Rain Man. It was a subtle touch that gave a glimmer of hope to an otherwise dreary landscape and lonely figure walking in the drenching rain.

Thanks for witnessing the unfolding of my process, and insight into my form and feeling. Next week, we’ll explore another of my works, or perhaps wrap up the work on my first LIVE painting demonstration.