Does size matter?

I admit it, I have an ego. I don't think that's a bad thing, self-esteem is a powerful tool when used correctly, maybe it's balance that is the key in having one. Have enough of an ego to believe in yourself but not too much to think you are the shit. A year ago I was commissioned to paint a series of 4 diptychs to be made into monster prints and hung on the side of a butt-ugly garage in the Canaveral Port Authority Cruise line arena. Finally they are up and they look pretty good but the really important thing is, they are huge! A friend of mine once said "If you can't make it good, make it big or make it red." I painted these things to the best of my ability, amping up the color, painting bold shapes and strokes to make it as powerful as possible. Admittedly there was an initial rush in seeing them but that fell away quick enough because they are sort of weak looking. Primarily because of the millions of little holes in the fabric that let the wind through and diminish the contrast of the image. I had to go into photoshop to boost these pics a little. There is another little lesson in this that has to do with the reproduction of ones work. Colors will change, contrasts will change, there is rarely a print of something that hasn't lost some vital part of the original. As an illustrator I learned that one quickly enough. But the lesson is that no one really knows what the original looks like, they see only what's in front of them. Think about all the paintings in art books you've seen over the years. You don't really know how it differs from the original unless you have the original right next to the reproduction. So my little ego shot had points taken off because of something I hadn't considered, those darn little holes. But, hey, they're still bigger than anything I've ever seen so, I rock. At least for now.