Party Dress, An abstraction.

Party Dress, 24 x 30, Oil on Canvas

 A while back I was participating in an ongoing studio night/class type event. The instructor challenged us with a project: to find a poem, a line of poetry, song lyrics, or other written word to inspire us. Paint a picture that represents the words. 

The photo above isn't where this piece started. I don't remember the line of poetry I selected, but I had a lovely photo I had taken of an echinacea. The poetry suited it. So that was what I chose to paint. 

 

ECHINACEA

The instructor cancelled the project midstream. Hoped we would finish our pieces. It was a nice start, but I was so unsatisfied with it. I set it aside in place I could see it often. I thought it was calling out to be something else.

This was the point where I really started to choose something other than realism. My painting group would say I started the shift way before this. They are probably right, there were plenty of signs in my work. This was my first conscious choice.

I could see that this particular work would be so much better if I just let be what it wanted to be. It took a really long time, like 3 or 4 years, before I was truly ready to have at it. The catalyst for the change to the original work was a show for abstracted work. It took only took 2 or 3 studio session to complete the transformation:

The first two layers of change were done with a fairly large brush. I wanted exuberant, colorful, dancing petals. I realize that except for the cone in the center this doesn't really seem like an Echinacea. That's the beauty of abstraction, things are not always what they seem. During the last session of painting I grabbed a couple different pallet knives, expanded my palette just a bit and turned on the music. I was really lost in the final session. More than a hour went by before I just stopped. It was done. Nothing more was needed. It felt joyous and defiant all at once. And really, really wonderful to see what I had imagined the Echinacea could be, what it called out to be.

This isn't my first abstracted work, but it was one of the first times I knew what I saw in the photo I took. The first time I acted on an out of the box idea of how something could and should be represented. I let those thoughts loose. They've taken me on a wonderful journey, paintings done to create something new and encourage the viewer to feel the painting. To let it into their hearts and minds and see what happens. Do they see the joy, or the journey, or the heartbreak represented on the surface in front of them? Does it inspire them, make them think deeply, send a smile to their lips? Make them want to get lost in it? I hope it does all of that, and more, for the viewer. 

What do you want your art to do, to say, to be? I encourage you to do that. A lot.

DISSOLUTION, layer by layer

One of my favorite things about Oil and Cold Wax is that it always takes me on a journey, I go where it leads me. The destination usually a surprise. Once in awhile I get the idea I know where we're going before the paint's been mixed. This work was one of those times. 

 

LAYER 1

I had some stencils and masks that I made just for this piece. A hazy vision of circles and arcs and transparency had been calling me for several weeks. My palette of yellows and blues mixed and ready. Starting with a 12 x 12 board coated with oil ground, the first few layers looked and felt promising. This needed to dry for a little while before I could continue.  

LAYER 2
After about 20 minutes, the surface was dried enough to continue adding layers, excavating, masking. Enough for this day, let it dry at least overnight and see what's what.

LAYER 3

When I returned to the piece, layers were added, removed. A happy accident created bubbles. I liked it for an instant, bubbles are happy things, and then not at all. Rotating it in all directions didn't help me see anything good. I remember when I first starting using cold wax, I would watch videos on YouTube. talking to the screen, telling the artist to stop, don't go there. Why did you have to ruin it? Well, that's exactly what I did...ruined it. It doesn't have to stay ruined, keep going.

LAYER 4

Added a line, liked it less. Too clean, boring. contrived. I need to step away from it for at least a few minutes. Coming back to the work, evaluating composition, values, shapes, and trying to see and feel where this is going. Changing direction of a piece in progress isn't as hard as it sounds, at the same time it is hard. I start with small steps, one thing at time. Adding a color, disturbing the work already down, changing a shape, or adding a new value, each can have great impact on it's own. 

FINAL LAYER - DISSOLUTION

This particular piece needed some messing up, some complexity, to be undone. Taking away some things in a very deliberate random manner achieved those things. This piece was pretty quick, only a matter of days. Some evolve over time, getting worked on as I have time or they call my name. There are pieces that have sat around for long time, weeks, months or a year plus in my studio. I leave them where I can see them, just in case inspiration strikes. Or I get a whim to paint over them completely and start over. That's a post for another day.