Red Guitar (Souvenir of Istanbul)

Rick Mullin · #1 08-03-2014, 12:07 AM

Oil on canvas, 36" x 48", 2014

Cyn Neely · #2 08-03-2014, 01:12 AM

I ADORE the detail in this (and in many of your paintings).
I love its nonchalance. Again as in many of your paintings. And of course your non-stingy use of the medium. Much to admire from my POV.

Allen Tice · #3 08-03-2014, 11:20 AM

Life affirming.

("Chock Full of Nuts" coffee can? Why not.) Not relevant : The last time I was in the completely roofed Grand Bazaar (not so long ago), I found navigating easier using a pocket compass.

ross hamilton hill · #4 08-03-2014, 04:52 PM

3 by 4 foot so I'm guessing this is much more impressive in real life, will you mail it to me? I have just the wall for it.
Just kidding...

Rick Mullin · #5 08-04-2014, 09:26 AM

Thanks, folks!

Cyn, thanks for "nonchalance". That's a good word for my approach, I think. When I finish a still life, I find all sorts of unintended stuff in it. I guess nonchalance is my version of keeping my head out of the game, to the extent that I manage that. And that is where better things might emerge.

Allen, the guitar and the hookah were purchased under that roof. I had all sorts of vendors following me through that amazing market. Thanks for "life affirming"!

Ross, I definitely mail these things. Let me put it that way.

Rick

Rick Mullin · #6 08-04-2014, 11:21 PM

REVISION: Added apples.

Casey Ford · #7 08-05-2014, 09:29 PM

I am glad you added the apples; the color is so lovely just there.

Ann Drysdale · #8 08-06-2014, 03:13 AM

Am I going mad? The sizes of everything - the sizes! In relation to each other, I mean. Is that a real...?

I have so many of these things in my life, typewriter, apples, cans of things and the shisha pipe I found dumped in Abertillery park, which sits beside the lovely lavatory pan at the top of the garden. "Installations", doncherknow...

Oh, come now, Mr Mullin - you're having fun with me, n'est-ce pas?

If not, I apologise for the great shout of delighted laughter that you probably heard across the pond. It means I'm seeing something that isn't there. Again.

But if I am so enchanted by what I "see", does that matter? To you, I mean.

I am still smiling.

Rick Mullin · #9 08-06-2014, 10:14 AM

Ha! Well, I subjugate the relative size of things to larger concerns in designing a picture, Ann. That said:

A) It's a delicate balance.

B) The coffee can I used is huge. Larger than any you would see in England. And the guitar is very small--not a toy, but probably a soprano acoustic guitar, if such a designation exists. It was manufactured in Spain, home of the guitar, which produces the instrument in a broad range of sizes.

I'm kind of glad that you're jarred by the dimension of things. Pleasantly jarred, it seems. I must admit, though, that I am somewhat jarred by your being jarred by a concern for the relative sizes! Pleasantly jarred.

Thanks.
RM

Ann Drysdale · #10 08-07-2014, 06:44 AM

So I'm not mad - they are illogical and the lack of logic is part of your process. I am more than happy with that.

You are not telling me that that's a diddy guitar no bigger than a coffee-can or that the mighty Remington is as fat as a Fender. Just that these are your things and I can take them or leave them.

I'll take them, please, just as they are. See me smiling like the little black-and-white Rick-Jesus down there on the left, curled in the curve of the hookah.