Burning the Midnight Oil – 100 portraits in 100 hours

Painter Milé Murtanovski will put himself in art quarantine for a little over four days creating portraits of his friends…and their friends…and their friends.

“That’s 100 paintings in 100 hours. No sleeping. No kidding,” says Murtanovski, who many know as “that man on stilts” at many County celebrations.

The theme of the project is connections and community based on Facebook “friends” lists. Milé asked 33 of his Facebook friends if he could paint their portrait.

“The only condition was that this person had to choose one of their own Facebook friends to be painted, and then that person had to choose one of their friends to be painted. Other than the first 33 people, all other subjects had to be strangers to him, yet all 100 are interconnected through relationships on social media.”

The final painting will be a self-portrait.

His ‘Burning the Midnight Oil’ project will produce 100 14” x 17” ink paintings which will be for sale for $100 dollars each. Half the proceeds will be donated to the inaugural Firelight Lantern Festival, a not-for-profit community art event coming to Prince Edward County in spring 2013.

The marathon starts Dec. 6 at 5 p.m. and finishes Dec. 10 at 9 p.m.
at Small Pond Arts, 337 Clarke Rd. Picton. Throughout, there will be regular updates on Facebook, Twitter (@mmurtanovski) and the project’s blog, www.burning100.blogspot.ca. The paintings will be on display at Small Pond Arts Saturday, Dec. 15, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Milé began painting nearly 25 years ago using watercolours, and painting the human figure has been a life-long love. In 2010 he left Toronto, relocating to a 160-year old farmhouse in Prince Edward County, Ontario, where he founded Small Pond Arts with his wife, playwright and puppeteer Krista Dalby. Small Pond Arts is an artist residency centre and art gallery, and host to numerous creative community events throughout the year.