Colin Mitchell Artwork
Martian Sunrise with Internal Self Portrait
Approx. 24" x 36"
Acrylic, Oil Stick, Oil Pastel and Collage on Canvas
2000
This painting started life as an entirely different piece. I had mailed letters to my friends asking them to send me items of interest to be used as collage in a work. Once I got all the responses back, I laid the canvas on the ground and dropped the collage from a ladder. When I looked at the work a few years later, I realized it was rather empty, so I painted over it (that's how I saw it at the time, but now I realize I was just continuing the work, because the collage all had a relation to myself) with what I imagined a Martian sunrise to be like. Then I added some "Aliens" and began to see a face. It felt to me like I'd painted the mask of my face as seen from the inside - hence the title.
