Hello wonderful people! Tom Colcord here, I hope everyone had a festive Halloween. Some of you are new here, and to those of you I say: welcome! This is one of my regular email updates where I share information about my creative practice and art happenings as well as some of my “curated” thoughts.
First of all, this weekend my painting “Backyard Witchcraft” will make its public debut at Minnesota Street Project. It will be one piece of many, a part of HEARKEN TO ME a group show at Parts Peculiar curated by the transformative Ailee John.
The themes of this show revolve around attention, magic, and presence, which makes “Backyard Witchcraft” in particular a perfect fit for this show.
This painting was started in early 2024 (several months before my wife Ali and I were married) and was completed just this past May in time for my daughters 1st birthday. It was even started in the home studio that has now become a nursery! This painting marked a departure for me in many ways that I’d like to share a bit about.
Previous to this piece I worked in a tried and true and, rather rigorous way. Large pieces completed before 2024 would begin by developing the entire concept digitally using photoshop first. Below are two examples.
“Perfect is the Enemy of the Good” Oil on Canvas 72x48’’ 2020 SOLD
“My Thoughts Are Not Mine” Oil on Canvas 72x48’’ 2022
In “Perfect is the Enemy of the Good” and “My Thoughts are Not Mine” I started by collaging in a 100% digital format, playing with compositions, adjusting the hue and saturation of various sections, and changing subject matter over and over again until I was certain I had a dynamic image. This part of the process would take over a year! Only then would I begin the painstaking process of copying the entire thing in oil paint (usually taking about 6-8 months depending on the time I had available). The finished image would not deviate from the collage in any way. When I was painting I didn’t want to have to make any creative decisions. It was comforting and predictable to have it all planned out first.
But while I enjoyed this process I came to slowly realize that it was missing something. I had made several large successful paintings, but they lacked a certain quality that was hard for me to describe. So during 2023-2024 I started returning to my roots as a Plein Air Painter to find answers.
“Botanical Gardens” Oil on canvas 24x24’’
There is something about working from life as an artist that I find very charging. The direct observation of the subject brings to the painting a more felt reality, more “thingness,” and I realized that this quality that my Plein Air paintings possessed I wished for my more conceptual work too.
I knew it was time for a change, and one afternoon as I was sitting in my backyard I began to conceive of it as a great space to work both from life and from imagination simultaniously. In that moment I chose to disrupt my long standing process, and learn to sharpen a different set of instincts.
Another part of the reason for this is that I had developed a better sense for what I was painting about. If I am interested in the magical, the memorial, the ephemeral, and the mysterious energies that shift the elements of the universe, then did it make sense to hold onto a process that was so predictable and rigid? I want the worlds I am painting feel real. Therefore painting from photoshop, while it was an excellent tool to collage with, I realized was holding me back.
Also, shouldn’t a painting that talks about spirituality and authentic experience be a little more painterly or abstract? I wasn’t entirely sure then, and still am not, but I needed to start experimenting to find out.
Me working in my “backyard studio” circa 2025
^An earlier iteration of “Backyard Witchcraft”
So with “Backyard Witchcraft” I started with only a loose concept. Just a vague collage and several sketches in drawings of various mediums to get a loose sense for composition and color. I did develop a specific color palate that I would adhere to for a while but knew I would branch away from it as I went.
Obviously, I took my time with it. Working slowly and in increments, rather than by simply “executing” an image. While working on this piece I had to make creative decisions during the actual painting process. I could not constantly look back to a tailored reference image to check whether it was “complete” or up to snuff. Essentially I axed that security blanket. Now I just had to trust my eyes, really look at the painting as a whole, make judgements, and trust myself.
It became clear pretty quickly that what I was really doing was learning to be more patient. As mentioned earlier I developed this during the time my wife and I got married, pregnant and had our daughter. The energy of all these shifting life changes influenced the piece to morph over and over again. Those of you who are also married and have kids know how parenthood restructures your entire life. My willingness to evolve my art practice, and any capacity I now have to be more patient and flexible is a testament to the magic that starting a family required of me. I’m now much better at sitting with anxiety, feeling it, and not running from it.
You’ll notice a figure in the lower right hand corner. That is my wife dressed in a crow costume from Halloween 2022. Ali loves crows, they are mysterious, intelligent and have a dynamic presence. When I look at this painting now its clear to me that Ali is the source of all the energy in this painting. There is real magic in creating a family! It’s a wild ride full of unpredictable changes that have forced me to grow and I’m lucky that I was able to record so many of these transitions as this piece developed.
