Friday 28 March 2014

Quiet. State, March 2014 Mixed Media on Canvas 80cm x 100cm

The absence of immediate force has many different results. The freedom this leaves to the beholder has both positive and negative implications. We want to be seduced, but not bullied. We want to be in control, but not have to do everything ourselves, as fellow humans and viewers of art, even. I wanted to stay awhile in the middle ground of action, and experience the special note of potential this offered. A polite declination to join the circus, or indeed the brawl on the picture plane. A tight-lipped stance on canvas. 

Sunday 16 March 2014

Time, resistance and strength. Orange and Grey Band, March 2014 Mixed media on board, 73cm x 104cm

Wood is very different to paint on compared to canvas. Harder, of course, and with the inherent confidence of a more versatile material. We build with wood, houses, tables, chairs, the list is endless. The canvas has art as its purpose. Softer, gentler and ultimately weaker. Wood can withstand more re-working than canvas, and this adds opportunities for investigation. We operate with a different time-frame when painting on wood. This strength of character in the material, its dignity lead me to choose a different array of colours this time. The colours needed to match the vitality of the wood. I applied paint, scraped it off, painted the surface over and over again. Once the top layer had dried, the underlying layers could be revealed through scraping with metal tools. I could reach the past. We fought it out, me and the board. I used paint, the board used its resistance. I decorated the board with bright colours in homage to its strength.

Sunday 9 March 2014

A red Behemoth. Sections, Sept 2013, Acrylics on canvas 76.5cm x 122cm

Sections of colour is all there is here. A lengthy work process containing several layers of paint gave the surface a notable texture, but the linear manner with which the colour aligns itself stands in opposition to this  textural element. The large size of the canvas played a significant role in how colours were chosen an apportioned. This was an early work that taught me a great deal about aspects that since has become central to my painting. The paint was applied with palette knife and scrapers, so a measure of irregularity exists on the picture plane. As one of many in a series, this work remains my primus inter pares.