Louie Rochon
Finalist
My Inspiration
Why do I paint? To survive, literally! Challenged with clinical depression and bipolar disorder most of my life, I’ve refused to allow it to take my life. It’s come close, far too often, but art has saved me. For 20 years now, I’ve poured my honest feelings and emotions directly into my work, been an outspoken advocate for mental illness and stubbornly dragged myself into the studio daily, regardless of my state of mind. I “know,” by faith, if I show up, park my butt in front of a canvas, inspiration will eventually replace my desperation. By far, the hardest part of art is getting in front of that canvas. The rest is pretty easy; it just flows out from inside me, through paint, onto canvas.
My Design Strategy
I have no design strategy, well, not really. Depends on my mood. Most paintings begin on the floor with pre-cut primed canvas from 84-inch rolls, anywhere from 8 feet to 12 feet. I have be able to work big, without any limitations or my OCD kicks in. With Road Trip I used Golden Fluid Acrylics, various acrylic, metallic inks and flow agents, using a large trowel in quick singular outward strokes. The next phase was five to six layers of acrylic flows, metallic drops, all wet on wet for two days, thick palette applications and hand bottle markings and detail work. I always take a photo of the work to crop, then have a custom stretcher frame made. I stretch and voila—a finished piece.
My Working Process
I paint on the floor, on vast sheets of white canvas, music blaring, on my hands and knees, wet, fast and furious, late into the night, often for days at a time. It’s a deeply emotional “trance-dance” of sorts and when the music abruptly stops, it always startles me, the sudden, deafening silence void of the creativity; I sit there, utterly and completely spent. My painting is finished. To add just one more drop of paint would completely destroy it. Often I cry, not sure why? I’ve just poured all of my emotions, all of me onto and into that canvas. I “am” my paintings!
Contact Details
Email: uswalker3@hotmail.com Website: www.rochonfineart.com