Constraints (-ed)

It has a strange title, at first I thought 'Contraints' and then I thought 'Constrained'. I am not sure what the motivation was for this painting although it was extremely cold that weekend (3o below) and I was up in St. Saveur at a conference- so maybe I was feeling a little trapped. The character is a sad looking conehead in a tye-dye sweater. This actually was not based on doodles, but done freehand and freestyle on the spot. It uses elements of the doodleism style including bold colours, strong lines, and the broken horizon. 

Lately I have been thinking about definitions of artistic styles. It's funny because most artists would not want to be associated with a particular style even though they often are. I have tried to define my own style of doodleism, which has a unique combination of elements borrowed from surrealism, cubism, fauvism, impressionism... all the fun 'isms'. I try to challenge the style every time. For example, in this painting I applied vertical red and orange brushstrokes on the face of the character- normally I would have blended these brushstrokes with the background in order to make the face more lifelike. It worked out though, those red streaks bring memories of Monet.

11x7.5" cold press,  Dec. 2013