This painting has been a work in progress for a number of years now. I first collected the newspaper and held onto that before adhering it to the canvas. The canvas itself was a bit of an orphan during one of my painting classes in College. I used leftover canvas and gesso to make the small square before pondering what to paint on it. Eventually I decided on a mixed media project and Garfield in remembrance of my Uncle. He loved Garfield and whenever I saw the cartoon I thought of Bryce. This piece is a tribute to my deceased Uncle who never really had a fair chance at life in this cold world. Garfield is the light I choose to associate with his memory.
At some point I had collected some old Garfield comics from the newspaper and stashed them away in my cache of art supplies. When I started this piece I dug out those scraps and adhered them to the gesso after I hand stretched the frame myself. I inherited one of his stuffed animals at some point although I think my grandma had it after he passed or it may have been hers as she was obsessed with dolls too. Garfield always reminded me of Bryce. I sketched character drawings of the cartoon before landing on the final profile and attaching that to more gesso this time on top of the newspaper to overlap. The piece sat in the closet unfinished this way for a number of years before I pulled it back out. When I picked it up again I added some paint layers and am currently finishing up the details of Garfield so I can finish and sell the piece to another Garfield fan. This painting is handmade by me including the canvas itself.
The final piece will be a mixed media output that uses non-traditional media in the form of newspaper and layered paper on canvas. The combination of the layered collage along with fresh paint layers to distinguish the Garfield character will have a unified look and feel while retaining depth. A tribute to my deceased uncle and a fantastic fan piece for any Garfield admirer.
Any Garfield fan will be lucky to have this piece to admire their favorite cartoon on any wall they choose. The finished piece will be an unframed stretched canvas that will compliment any space. I look forward to passing this off to the next generation of Garfield fans to enjoy like Bryce would have.
One foot deep in creative and one foot deep in the alpine. Designing solutions to solve big challenges & suffering in beautiful places.
