For Sara Kulaski

Big River: Homage to Johnny Cash
28.3 x 26.4 cm
acrylic on paper
sue-ching you © 2008

Sara is Shane's girlfriend. Shane and his gang go surfing with my next door neighbor James Newitt almost every morning. James, Vedran and I often go to the gallery walks and openings in Santa Monica and downtown LA. I met Sara last Saturday during the gallery walk at Washington and La Cienega. She is an elementary school teacher. I mentioned the project to her, and she said that it would be a nice project for her students. When I spoke to her, I changed my plan a little. However, I've decided to stick with my original plan instead.

We met last night again in James's studio party. I told her my original plan, and she will tell me later what to paint.

Today (9/22), got an e-mail from Sara. She wrote, "I have been thinking about the subject for the painting and I would like you to paint about music. The painting will be for my brother John who is a musician-a guitar player. His style is a mixture of rock n roll, folk, some blues and country.... (cool country, think johnny cash and bob dylan) ."

The finished painting is giving homage to Johnny Cash, a legend always dressed in black. It took me days to think about how to paint. When I saw Johnny Cash's bio on Ovation TV, I immediately knew what and how to start the painting. Hope you will see the rhythm of Big River when you are enjoying the painting.