Friday, August 10, 2012

UNDERSTANDING ABSTRACT ART #36



“Breaking Through”
(Acrylic) 
Size:  122x92cm

THE IDEA BEHIND THE PAINTING:

This painting was done with the early acrylics when all that was available was flat colour.  These days the new acrylics are more like oil paints and offer transparency, different consistencies and slower drying time.  Paints now come in three different types of pigment: transparent, opaque and staining.  Transparent colours are used for glazing, which give a transparent tinge to the colour which is underneath.  Opaque colours are solid and do not have the same effect.  To make opaque colours sing one has to mix the paints thoroughly and have a keen knowledge of how to achieve certain colours.  This comes with experience.  The paint was applied with brushes and pallet knife.  The painting was done on canvas stretched over ply board.

The painting depicts the point of resolution at which a personal problem was solved.  One can see the uncertainty and lack of direction something like a fog with a clear and decisive solution suddenly slicing through the indecision. 


Art Techniques used to achieve this:

The colours are mixed from the three primary colours: red/blue/yellow together with white.  Mixing colours, instead of using colour straight out of the tube, always gives a better effect in my opinion.   Also there is something very satisfying about mixing colours – it is as important to me as applying the colour to the painting.

The composition is balanced and the paint is moderately textured.  The texture adds to the drama of the composition.

The contrast between the light colours and the strong red/blue provides the drama and also the point of focus on what is a flat surface without perspective.

Is that drama evident to you the viewer? 

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