Chicago Blues

Didn't nobody seem to know me
everybody pass me by
Mmm, the sun goin' down, boy
dark gon' catch me here

This weeks painting was the most instant reaction I've based my work on so far. My colour association with these city blues wasn't actually blue, but purple. To me, purple fits sadness and joy equally well.

After painting this piece, I stopped to look at it and saw many references to the songs and story that were probably unintentional. The thin scraped lines appear as a river-like form while the vertical brushstrokes reminded me of skyscrapers. To me, the painting represents a solid realm, a definite place, overlaid with a ghostly spirit form. I made this painting to be a pure representation of a musical sound, yet its interesting to me that I still read this as a landscape. I think it's more interesting this way, as the city is so inextricably linked with the music it produced.

A few weeks after listening to the Chicago blues I visited Chicago itself. Here are some photographs of the city which I took on my trip: