How Paul McCartney Is The Key To Fantasy Drawings

by Jeff Thelen
(Brick, NJ)

Funny (but true) a Beatles keychain, my mother's fan-crush on Paul McCartney, and the remastered "Venus and Mars" album reissued as a CD inspired me to revisit the cover art.

On the original cover two orbs, one orange the other red, are aligned in the blackness of space. McCartney's band Wings was noted for its successes as well as its personnel changes.

I started with the two orbs. In my interpretation Venus is less vivid as Linda passed due to cancer. The gorge in the Martian landscape represents Paul's loss. Viewing the scene from the Earth's vantage point, I added the two trees in the foreground creating a heart representing the storied love affair between Paul and his wife, Linda.

What medium do I use?

Enamel acrylic spray paint is my preferred medium. The many colors available help me create atmosphere and define mood, just as I did in "Venus and Mars Revisited". It is really important to paint in a well ventilated area, wear a mask, and have a fan blow the fumes out a window.

A primary reason for my using spray paint is that I have MS (multiple sclerosis) and it is very difficult for my hands to hold and paint using brushes.

How did I create this painting?

Sometimes I sketch an idea and sometimes I start spraying right on the canvas. For this drawing, I started spraying directly on the canvas. I used the shiny side of poster board as the canvas.

I first began spraying select colors to create the shapes. Next, I masked off the painted areas so that they were protected from the black spray paint to come next.

To pull out the other colors and highlights from black paint, I go to my arsenal that includes balled newsprint and magazine pages, sponges, metal nails, guitar picks, and my fingers. All these readily available tools help create texture as I use them to gently lift or scrape away some of the paint.

I used my fingers to flick drizzled paint onto the paper canvas to create the stars.

Spray paint dries fast. There are times when I want to work over a certain area of the canvas again. You can try a technique I use. Simply spray over the area with "clear coat" spray paint. It loosens up the paint and you can work on it again.