Evolution of a Painting

 

"Number 4," by Otto Von Miller.

When Thee Optimist was a teenager, he took the #4 subway train through the Bronx and into Manhattan to high school each day.

One day, while making sketches in his new incarnation as the artist Otto Von Miller, Thee Optimist made the above pencil drawing.  It is a picture of himself riding the subway to school.

You might notice that in the role of him, he chose to insert the man from the famous painting "The Scream," by Edvard Munch.  This is because "The Scream" is thought to perfectly express the psychological horror of the human condition.

"The Scream," 1893, by Edvard Munch.

It was witty and clever of Thee Optimist to imagine himself as the screaming man.  Or at least he thought so.

Thee Optimom Weighs in

Thee Optimist showed the drawing to his mother (otherwise known as Thee Optimom).  

Thee Optimom was very interested in the drawing.  She had recently sold her house, and was in the process of purchasing an apartment.  

As fate would have it, Thee Optimom worked for many years as a registered nurse, and she rode the very same train to work (albeit a couple hours earlier in the day than Thee Optimist).  

She said, "Why don't you paint a picture of me going to work on the subway for my new apartment?"

All right.  Thee Optimist would certainly attempt this.

But there are certain things wrong with the drawing.  For one, subway trains in New York City have distinctive signs on them, indicating what train they are.  In the sketch above, Thee Optimist butchered this.

So the first order of business was to see if he could even re-create a somewhat accurate subway sign using paint.

The #4.  Easy enough to do, more or less.

1970s Lady

Another hurdle was Thee Optimom was not the man from "The Scream," nor would she find it clever and humorous to see herself portrayed as such.

When Thee Optimist was a kid, Thee Optimom was a somewhat typical, albeit very pretty, 1970s-type woman.  You almost certainly know the type, in the funny black glasses with the bouffant hair.

Kind of like this:

"1970s Lady," acrylic paint on canvas, 2024 by Otto Von Miller.

With that out of the way, it seemed there was nothing left to do except paint the actual picture.  

Thee Optimist figured the painting should be a better portrayal of a subway car, with a good sign accurately reflecting what subway signs look like, and a 1970s type lady similar to Thee Optimom in the back window.

Of course, the lady in the window would be a nurse, so she should be dressed all in white, as nurses in the 1970s and 1980s used to dress (angels of mercy and all that).

Thee Optimist went to his studio, went crazy with his work, and emerged with the following.  

"Hot Rails to Hell," acrylic and chalk paint on canvas, 2024 Otto Von Miller.

Thee Optimist named the painting after a 1973 song by Blue Oyster Cult, which appropriately enough is about riding the subway.

Thee Optimom is pleased with her new paintings (Thee Optimist is giving her "1970s Lady" as well), and will receive them after she moves into her new apartment.

Words of Wisdom:

"A picture is just like me; the more you try to understand it, the more it hides from you."

- Edvard Munch