When I dug out my oil paints to paint the Gulliver panels, I really fell in love with the process again.
The smell and the viscosity of the paints, the effects that can be achieved with them, and also the need to work on a much larger scale, all seemed to point up areas where I was frustrated with my watercolour painting.
I started to work on easel paintings as a kind of a relief from the illustration work I was doing, and I chose simple non narrative subjects so that the only things I had to worry about, were the arrangement of the shapes on the canvas, and the tones and the colours.
I'm not about to embrace the undoubted joys of abstract painting just yet, but whilst my instinct always moves towards the representational with at least hint of a narrative, this picture is really about my playing with close harmonies in colour within a framework of very formal shapes.
In that respect, this piece reminds me more than a little of the work of Sean Scully or Piet Mondrian.( There's a couple of names you wouldn't expect to see on my blog)
In fact the artist whose influence shows most in this work is probably Vilhelm Hammershøi .
I went to see the Hammershoi exhibition this summer in London and your pictures have the same quality and gentleness of light. They are really beautiful PJ.
ReplyDeleteAll these paintings on your recent posts have such a great quality of light. I really like how they feel. So great.
ReplyDeleteHi Niamh and Manelle
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for the kind comments.
I intended to go to the Hammershoi exhibition, but the time just slipped away.
It's a real shame. The catalogue is superb.
I have seen quite a few of his originals in my travels over the years, but I doubt if I'll get the chance again to see so many of his best paintings together.
HAHAHA! I never thought a painting of a chair could be so striking and beautiful! An absolutely beautiful painting. The sense of the world beyond the borders of the frame is almost tangible.
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