Introducing, my latest neon painting — ‘The Virginian’ — an iconic beacon in the Jackson Hole skyline. But why The Virg? Why now?
Well, you may have heard the property is on sale for a crisp $60,000,000 (the painting will be available for slightly less)… and, as it happens, the broker is friend, collector and patient golf partner — Greg Prugh. So, I figured the timing was perfect.
Care to see this beauty come together in 46 seconds? Look no further than the link above… set to the aptly named track, “Borbay 2.0”, courtesy of my guys Nelson and Ahmed.
Tabula rasa… nothing but potential. Starting with nothing constantly? Perhaps the most exciting aspect of being an artist. Oh, BTW, don’t you just love my Socky Chop in the background?
Getting that under-painting down. Unless you see it for yourself, it’s difficult to explain just how important this phase is. While there are four, yes, four, coats of blue on the final surface, that orange radiates underneath.
When blocking out the shadows, you don’t often get this exciting a pay-off pitch. Having played little league for nine years, I still use baseball terminology… and still, unfortunately, root for the Mets. It could be worse… I could have someone banging garbage cans to let me know which paint stroke is coming next.
https://twitter.com/borbay/status/1228715160526675968
Speaking of baseball… if you know about the Cohen/Wynn/Picasso story, you’ll enjoy this tweet. Of course, you only get love on Twitter these days if you make an asinine comment to inflame the masses.
Tubular… just me, some cadmium yellow medium and a dream… it’s worth reporting, I have now digressed further into the Virgo wormhole, using size 00000 brushes.
Life, like art, is about context. Here is the studio… to the right, my 60″X60″ painting of Radio City… early stages. They ask all the post-collegiate whippersnapper’s, “can you multitask?” Well, I said yes… in retrospect, having run my own business for 11 years with 2-4 paintings going simultaneously at all times with three kiddos… I didn’t know what the phrase meant.
Background loading… love when we get that radiating glow happening around the neon. That, even more so than the tubes, deliver the effect.
Unseen to the viewer… there are four separate palettes, four sets of brushes, two sets of water jugs to clean… all happening around me. I’m sure an aerial streaming shot of yours truly in the studio would make for some interesting viewing for those extremely bored at work.
Speaking of palettes… here’s is an active one… this was for the bulbs around LODGE, as well as the COCKTAILS sign, and highlights throughout.
When I get down to the prestige phase, I make honey-do lists… deficiencies is spelled correctly… but when I’m not typing, I always question. Technology is ruining our brains — btw, thank you for viewing this on you PC, tablet or mobile device — please feel free to share on social media; and, with your European friends on Whatsapp.
And boom! The Virginian… I look forward to seeing what happens to the property… and the painting.