UNDERSTANDING ABSTRACT ART #23

“Footprint”   (Mixed media with bitumen and collage on board)

  70x99cm  

ABOUT THIS PAINTING:

“Footprint” makes an environmental statement.

The black and white are rendered equally and this represents that, at this point in time, humanity’s footprint on the environment is held in the balance.

The light green portrays my optimism that nature will survive in the long run.  It may however be questionable whether human-kind will survive.

The media is mixed and the newspaper collage makes pertinent comments about issues on the environment.

This artwork is therefore a statement of where we as humans stand in the scheme of things – hence the title “Footprint”.

For those who are interested in the saga of what is happening with the forest of trees in the centre of the village on Buderim Mountain…(seen below) well the trees still stand at the time of writing.  I will keep you all informed regarding developments. 



Artistic techniques used in the painting:

The composition has a vertical emphasis.  The three major colours are yellow, black and white.  However the painting has quite a lot of over painting which leaves many other colours visible but understated.  This adds to the strength of the overall work.

The texture varies from impasto for the yellow and white areas and smooth for the black.  Actually the black is more of a dark grey.
 

I have used a variety of media in this painting including pitch and other unconventional materials from the hardware store.   So the mixture contains natural and synthetic products.  This tends to reflect the environment in which we live… we are relying more and more on synthetic materials for our existence. 

The collage which is placed along the vertical planes is torn from the newspaper and contains phases that allude to the environment such as “Save energy”. 

The mood of the overall painting is optimistic and the painting is balance.