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Mark T Smith

Anatomy of a painting 2020

This is a visual record of the process that lead to the painting entitled “Half Life”, Mixed Media on stretched canvas, 40×60 inches, 2020. This painting started in early 2018 in my first studio in Seattle, and was not completed until March 2020 at my second studio in the same city.

This piece was entitled “Half Life” because the start of this piece coincided with my 50th birthday. I started this piece to force my hand back to larger formats. For the previous few years I had been working almost exclusively in smaller formats due to travel and lack of a proper studio space.

The canvas had previously been a piece entitled “Don’t Tread on Me” from 2008 and was selected to be reworked. Portions of the original painting can be seen in the top left corner of the composition. In the past, I reworked very few completed works on canvas, but now the works ( with rare exception ) have become part of the process of creation again, rather than a static momentary representation of that process locked in time.

“Half Life” in Seattle, Washington State USA, 2020
Sketchbook “Half Life” 8×11 inches, pencil and ink on paper 2019.
Sketchbook “Half Life” 16×11 inches, ink on paper 2020.
Sketchbook “Half Life” 8×11 inches, paint, cut paper and ink on paper 2019.
Sketchbook “Half Life” 8×11 inches, paint, cut paper and ink on paper 2019.
Work in progress, 2019
Work in Progress 2019.
“Half Life” in Seattle, Washington State USA, 2019 (Studio 1)
“Half Life” in Seattle, Washington State USA, 2020
Detail
Detail
Detail

About Mark T. Smith

Mark T. Smith is a celebrated American painter. He is best known for his colorful, complex paintings and his passion for the application of art into the fabric of everyday life.

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