“The Fractured Earth #6”
The Rockscape Series
(Mixed water media with collage on watercolour
paper)
Size:
83x98cm (framed)
THE IDEA BEHIND THE PAINTING:
This painting is one of
ten paintings in the Rockscape Series. This series deals with environmental
issues and in particular the degradation of the oceans and their shores. I used water media for this series to
emphasise the watery theme. All in this
series are based on photographs of the rock formations seen at Point Cartwright
near where I live in Australia. Other
posts about this series are found in Post No.19, 67, 69, and 72. They discuss the paintings in “The Fractured
Earth – Rockscape Series” #2, #4, #5 and #1 respectively.
This particular one in
the series deals with the pollution caused by oil spillage which is a real
danger to the state of Queensland which relies on tourism for a major part of
its revenue.
The photograph below is
of one of these intriguing rock formations.
You must admit that it looks more like a moonscape than a rock on a
coastal headland.
ART
TECHNIQUES USED IN THIS PAINTING:
This paint was initially
painted in watercolour and as true to the photograph as possible. The green images in the painting represent
the indentations in the rock’s surface. Originally
the background colour of the rock was a mauve violet in watercolour, but later
I changed it to a bright yellow orange in acrylic. I took this artistic licence because the
painting was looking drab and needed to be lifted. The indentations remained untouched and still
in watercolour. To achieve this I applied
contact adhesive plastic to the entire paper surface and then outlined the
green images. I then cut around them and
peeled the surrounding plastic off thus leaving the green images protected by
the contact plastic. I was then able to
use a roller to apply the yellow orange acrylic evenly over the entire surface
without damaging the green images which represent the indentations in the
surface of the rock formation. You will
note that the yellow varies from a yellow orange in the centre to a yellow
green at the edges.
I used two photos of
crabs (different sizes) and placed them into the composition. I then randomly poured a blue violet acrylic
around the entire image in an anti-clockwise direction. This final spontaneous action represents the
disruption that oil spills have on the natural ocean environment.
I would place this painting
in the category of a documentary-history genre.
I would be interested to hear your comments on this.
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