There are times in your painting life when you feel like you’ve made a jump forward. Or maybe just uncovered a new area to explore, and the exploration still has to be done.
I think this one might be a bit of both.
For a while I’ve been wanting to get something into my work that will move it away a little from my visual impressions, whilst retaining (always) a strong element of realism.
Since I became so ill last year I’ve had a pervading sense of the fragility of life. Not as an intellectual idea, but springing from the knowledge that I might not have made it. That if things had worked out differently, I might not have had the time I have now with the people I love, my wife, my kids.
This is something I feel every day, and feel deeply.
And I’ve been wanting to find a way to express something of that feeling, perhaps without being entirely aware I was looking for it.
In a few of my more recent small pieces, I’ve started to dissolve the forms a little. As well as reflecting something of the way we perceive the world (we can only focus on quite a narrow area of our visual field at a time) the bleeding edges of the forms seem to me to resonate with the idea of fragility, of the brevity of our existence, and with our unaknowledged vulnerability.
In this painting, it came out a little more and I finally connected the dots and made it an explicit expression of these ideas.
Strange, though, I didn’t go into this painting intending for this to happen. I started as I usually do. It just…went somewhere else whilst I was painting it.
As well as the dissolving forms, I started to use texture more than I usually would, and built up the paint much more thickly in places. I’ll post some detail shots, but you can only really get a feel for how that works when you see it in the person.
I think that’s true of all paintings. In this one, the texture makes the surface very obvious, works against the realism in some way but at the same time serves to make the form feel more real. I’m going to be consciously looking for ways to expand on that idea in future paintings.
So, although this painting certainly embodies some ideas I’ve been wanting to express, and is a change and I think a development for me, it still leaves a lot unresolved and is leaving me with new avenues to explore.
This one is a little larger than my small pieces, x inches and is on a linen panel I made myself. Its a beautiful surface for panting, fine linen primed with lead white.
I’m auctioning this painting as I usually do, but since it’s a larger piece on linen and took some time to paint, the minimum bid is higher than usual.
Click here to view the auction.
Best wishes,
Paul
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Lovely painting. I also like the way you provide close-up photos as well as the whole painting.
Thanks Martin 🙂 I’ll try to do more of the close ups for future paintings.
Really lovely painting Paul! I really like this direction you’re going and it must be an interesting surprise when the painting takes on a direction not personally intended. So glad that you are feeling better!
Thanks Jean 🙂
Beautiful as always. It is funny you say the canvas size is larger then you are used to. It seems to composition is in the middle and the background and foreground are a just there to fill space. Maybe, just to try something new, you could zoom in your next composition so some of the elements touch or exceed beyond the picture frame.
Really though a beautiful painting.
Well, I don’t think it would work as well without the space. I usually am more “zoomed in” than this. But I rarely crop objects, except in drawings – it may happen 🙂
Truly lovely–and interesting.
Thanks Jane!
Quite nice!
Thanks Phil
That’s a beautiful piece of work Paul
Thank you Nigel, really glad you like it 🙂
Paul,
Thank you for the close-ups! This is a beautiful painting and I have posted it to my Pinterest account under “Artists who Inspire”. I love the soft focus and how the piece just happened. The explanation means something to me also. I’m a lucky American with good insurance and received a pacemaker last year.
All the Best,
Pat
Thanks for sharing Pat. Here’s to many productive years left for both of us!
I love the way this turned out and the direction you are moving in. And I identify with feelings that are embedded into the paint.
Great to hear Dianne, thanks 🙂
Wonderful piece.
What primer did you use as I’m experimenting but didn’t realise you could get anything in the EU that contained lead.
Thanks Donna.
For linen panels, I size them first with RSG then give them a coat of Michael Harding Foundation White, I put it on with a palette knife to get it fairly smooth, but leave a little of the canvas texture showing.
Beautiful, close ups are very helpful and I like that you mentioned how something happened during the painting to steer you in another direction, cool
Thank you… very introspective and interesting ‘alteration’ from your norm…just exactly what I wish to accomplish ..love realism but trying to put small ‘abstraction’ elements into the act of perfect realism…
Love the thicker paint…and the ‘smooshed’ edges..
Thank you Paul for sharing your work. I have been following your blog but have never commented. There are some interesting contrasts between the defined and the ‘dissolved’ as you say. These touches do add a personal note . If I may, they do come across as a bit blurry, as if they were unintended smudges rather than intentional marks. Example, blending the edges of the object (the bowl)
or the tablecloth with the background as you did here, can be confusing to the viewer. Where does the table stop and the wall begin? This confuses the perspective and is distracting, I think, especially when other details are highly defined. This isn’t a landscape where the sun and sea blend together on the horizon. It would be better to use horizontal brushstrokes in these specific places as well as differentiation of colors, i.e. the bowl is blue and white, the background rusty orange and a gradual transition between them. Try it out yourself to find what works best. Hope you’re not offended by my criticism. An honest but polite opinion is the best way to progress. We all like to hear, beautiful, great, but those are not very helpful. Best regards.
Lovely painting Paul, as well as your description of your process. It is wonderful when something new presents itself. That ah ha moment is what makes the painting fresh and new and keeps us going. Wonderful feedback from peers helps a lot. I am inspired by your work and dedication to continuing to learn and improve as will as share with all of us.
good morning Paul,
you must be really pleased with how that came out. Do you think the change of surface had any affect on how the work progressed?
I’ve yet to use linin, I couldn’t justify the cost for my little studies. Over the past month I have been looking to buy some, so your post is well timed for me. How have you used as supplier and what have you used? As you know its like finding the correct straw in a hay-stack, trying to decide what to order. So, im just looking for some advice, or some little info on what and where you ordered and if you have had any good or bad experiences when buying linin.
I wish I could just find out for myself by trial and error, but its an expensive exercise. We seem to have almost too much choice with everything don’t we.
anyway, hope you are well and life is ticking along nicely.
all the best mate
glenn.
Hey Paul
I think you’re on your Picasso path my friend, initial years as realist… next thing you know you’ll be painting your lemons blue – oh, hold on…. yep you done that :o)
I agree with the advances sometimes coming in steps and sometimes unexpectedly. Seems to be the way with me as well, in fact I’d say that some of my areas of improvement have been when I’ve been specifically working to improve something entirely different.
It’s almost like the brain/body works on this stuff in the subconscious and then shows the results to you later.
In a vaguely related analogy, I didn’t learn to swim until I was in my mid-30’s. Every week I’d put in my best efforts but seemingly unable to get more than a few feet before spluttering and standing up, and then one week I turned up, tried as usual and swam a length of the pool straight out. I remember the look on the instructor’s face as it said “where the hell did that come from?”, he was as astonished as me.
I’d love to see that same leap-up skill level improvement with the artworks but will content myself with the gentle slope and occasional bump up.
Good stuff on the painting, you do realise you’ve set yourself up for great expectations on the next one though, no pressure… ;o)
– Steve
I am enamored with this painting. One of these days I will buy one of your creations. You are very inspiring!