The Meaning
“Blues on the Bayou” was done when I was playing at an old honky-tonk blues club called Knuckleheads in the east bottoms of Kansas City. It is similar to another painting I did around that same time, called, “The Creation of the Blues.”
Before Leon Russell passed away, I was able to see him perform at Knuckleheads, and I was very moved by his show and his gospel music influence. I was amazed of how well he turned traditional old time gospel music into rock and roll! So, this piece is a tribute to him, and all the gospel and blues music which influenced him in a profound way.
The Late Great Leon Russell
Leon Russell is on the piano looking up at an angel (that mirrors himself) while playing gospel music.
The Trinity
This includes a dove coming down out of the hand of the angel representing the Holy Spirit influence behind the music. He used to wear a basketball tank top on stage that said Holy Trinity on it, so the three flying eyes with top hats to the side and on the front of the angel’s top hat symbolizes that.
In the Spirit
Bo Diddley is on top of the piano playing his guitar, the Staple Singers are up above him (to the left by a church with light coming out of it) and Little Richard is to the right of them, awestruck by the angel manifestation.
The Process
This was an experimental piece for me; I was still learning how to put different meanings and characters together at the same time. I am definitely influenced and inspired by the amazing work of tattoo artists and how they use the body as a canvas. I try to emulate this on cotton canvases, especially with identity and meaning of human lives.
The Road to New Orleans
First, I drew out the characters, the church, the road, and the city of New Orleans and painted them in. Then I filled out the blue and green background.
Creative Clouds
The clouds were outlined at first, but then I began to overlap them with black paint to see if I could get some interesting patterns between them and I did! I then filled in the cloud spaces with yellow, orange, and red and attempted to pair them together with the fire on the angel’s wings.