Saturday, September 11, 2010

Leftover Abstractions

Leftover Star
This is part of my ongoing series of abstracts which are like a counterpoint to my realistic paintings. They are united in that I use my leftover paint from my realistic paintings and slap it onto boards and canvases with the palette knife. So no paint brush ever touched this board. In this one, I just wanted to see what would happen by starting at the centre and pushing the paint out in all directions. I have started in other parts of the canvas or used other hand motions for some of my other ones. At the end, I just put some white paint at the centre to focus attention. I think it sits well and creates some a sense of moving back as you look further from the centre. Anyway, it's a fun way to break from detailed painting, just slap on the paint and see what happens and do that with layer upon layer upon layer. Size is nine by twelve inches. Sold.

Transportation Series

Pearson Arrivals January
A group of people together but in fact they could not be more isolated. They are at ease but also tense. It's a fascinating situation and I am pretty happy about the result overall, I think I caught the mood. The initial comments were that the background is eye-catching. I thing the yellows and oranges really resonate and make the people stand out, there is a vibrancy between the back and front. 
This painting took me five months and I am now happy to have moved on from this relationship... It was great to spend time together, but it was all consuming almost obsessive. Now I need to find some other transportation images, which I think will be a natural move on from my windows series. Size is two feet by four feet.