When I first started painting abstracts I found I was seeing creatures in the designs I had poured on or otherwise added to the canvas. They often looked like the two potrait format paintings shown here.
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bird sanctuary 90x150cm oil on canvas 2006 |
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| song without words V 60x90cm oil on canvas 2008 |
Then the creatures went into hiding and I found it difficult to work without their company. I started painting impressionist still lifes, landscapes and some quite realistic flowers. I visited lots of workshops and one or two of the educators were inspiring in their own way. I certainly learnt a lot about various approaches. But none of it really spoke to me from the heart and my desire to paint anything waned, though I kept at it, if only to use up all the equipment I had bought!
Recently, in search of something to rekindle my imagination and after watching a lot of videos such as yesterday's, in which paintings really "come about", I found that my creatures were starting to return, especially the birds. Some of the street art masterpieces were of course drawn first. A massive mural needs good planning and skilled execution, but some of these artists, e.g. Darryn Rae at www.raeart.com paint on canvas and just go ahead. They all have their own speciality- with Darryn it's eyes. It's also a good idea to remember Diego Rivera, who is famous not least for his murals, which often served a critical social purpose, as do the street murals of the 21st century (favourite themes include ecology). More on this topic here.
The painting for my everyday collection has gone through 3 stages and may not be finished, but here it is anyway:
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| hopak acrylics 100x50cm 2012 |
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