Jesters in the King's Court

40” X 30” X 2.25”

Acrylic on Canvas

This painting is the reworking of an unfinished representational piece from an earlier period. After deciding to keep the crescent moon, large semi-circle (at top) with the string of beads and small circle pattern (adding the vertical, light turquoise bars for contrast), as well as most of the colorful, geometric shapes in the grid of the upper section of the painting, I began reworking the composition. I started by creating three black and white circles in descending sizes to represent regal jesters and echo the black and white border maintained from the original work. I finished off the new layout with various geometric shapes and linework. Then, to disguise the textures and images of the previous painting, I used a two-color brushwork technique as a masking pattern. When the painting was complete, I told my wife that the inverted, crescent design in the pyramid image looked like a hamburger (Golden bun, top and bottom. Meat patty above the bottom bun. Tomatoes, pickles, lettuce, and condiments between the patty and top bun). Now she refers to the painting as “The Hamburger Piece.” I then told her that I should have entitled it, “Jesters in Burger King’s Court.”