UNDERSTANDING ABSTRACT ART #64

What a lovely surprise!  This week I ws informed by LinkedIn – a professional social networking site – that I was one of the top 10% most viewed profiles for 2012.  This is very gratifying because it means that my blog, Understanding Abstract Art is reaching a large number of people globally.

For those who are new to my blog, I write and post my blog weekly.  I  take one of my paintings and discuss what it is about and what artistic techniques I use to achieve the finished piece.  I feel this education of the public on abstract art is important because I have heard all too often the words “even a child could do better” said of some of the world’s most renowned artworks.

On the same day I post my blog, I put a short comment and my link onto LinkedIn and also Facebook. 

Thank you LinkedIn for advising me of this.  To know that I reach an audience of global proportions is very encouraging.  Painting is a very insular activity if, like I do, the artist paints alone.  

“Portrait - Oliver” 

(Watercolour) 

Size: 25x25cm

ABOUT THIS PAINTING:

Now to the painting I am discussing this week: - I have chosen a portrait of my grandson Oliver.

It is my intention to paint portraits of all my grandchildren and those daughters who have not had children.  Although I can achieve a likeness, I find portraits too restrictive for my creative temperament to do them on a regular basis – so those which I do are a “labour of love”. 

Artistic techniques used in the painting:

I have chosen watercolour for this portrait because it is a “soft looking” medium and ideal for expressing the innocence of a child.  However watercolour does not give one the freedom to paint over, so I initially gridded up the page so as to get the features in the right place.  I used 300g watercolour paper because the heavier paper does not buckle as much.  I wet the paper but don’t stretch it because I like to be able to manipulate the runny watercolour from time to time by moving the paper to a different angle to achieve happy accidents.

As you have probably guessed, the painting was taken from a photo.  This is mainly for convenience because a small child is hardly going to stand still for long.  Painting from a photo is acceptable, as is also projecting.  I do not have a projector nor do I foresee a time when I will get one.

My watercolour palette for this portrait is as follows:-

Aureo. Yellow

Rose Madder

French Ultra Blue

Cad. Red

Windsor Blue (or Phthalo Blue)

Indian Red

Aliz. Crimson

Veridian

Cobalt Blue

Light Red

Windsor Green (or Phthalo Green)

                 -o0o-

Background:               1^st Glaze –  AY

                                    2^nd Glaze – RM

                                    3^rd Glaze -   RM

Shirt:                            FU

Shadow on shirt           FU + AC

Neck and Face:            Glaze AY

Shadows on Face:        RM

                                      V

                                      CB

Shadows on Neck:        AY+V

Hair                               (AY+ CR) + V

                                      (AY +AC) + V

It’s good to keep note of the colours used so that you can accurately mix the colours at a future time if you need to do so.  I often do this with both watercolour painting and acrylics and this practice has proved very useful.   

Why don’t you have a go at portraits?  It is in the doing and not the reading about that one learns how to paint.  Then on another occasion try something abstract – try to capture a feeling. 

http://www.buderimartstudio.com 

UNDERSTANDING ABSTRACT ART #63

“Inanna – Daughter of Fire” 

(The Goddess Series)

(Acrylic) 

Size: 90x120cm

ABOUT THIS PAINTING:

Following from last week’s post, the painting “Inanna – Daughter of Fire” was also part of the exhibition “In the Image of Goddesses”.

Inanna is one of the earliest known Goddesses.  She pre-dates the Greek deities by 1000 years – a time when Goddesses were seen as all powerful.  She is Mother of All – Earth Mother.  She is Life.  She is Death - cruel, majestic, enduring, continually giving birth to herself.  In the present day, in the Hindu religion, she is worshipped as Kali.  She is the energy of Nature at its most awesome, however she is also the giver of life. Just as nature can be devastatingly destructive, out of that destruction emerges new life.  This is the energy that the painting of Inanna represents.

The very earliest written text were discovered in Mesopotamia were Sumerian poems written on tablets.  They are known as “Poems to Inanna”.  They tell of how she was stripped of all her worldly possessions and taken to the Underworld and then is resurrected.  The poems are very beautiful and surprisingly sensuous.  (They can be read on the internet.)

Artistic techniques used in the painting:

This painting although very dark, does not have any black in it.  All the colours are mixed from three primary colours.  Thus the colours of this painting are dark but not dead.  In fact the painting is quite dynamic and that is part of the reason.

The composition’s dynamic energy is also attributed to its circular motion which tends to draw the viewer into the vortex in the lower centre.

The flat dark colours are contrasted with the lively warm colours of red and yellow.  Contrast creates interest in the viewer and encourages the eyes to explore the image further.

Do you think that this painting captures the essence of the Goddess Inanna?

http://www.buderimartstudio.com 

UNDERSTANDING ABSTRACT ART #62

“Persephone – The Rape and Abduction” 

(The Goddess Series)

(Acrylic) 

Size: 120x90cm

ABOUT THIS PAINTING:

Western civilization stems from classical Greek culture which has influenced our philosophical perspective up to the present time.  Freud the founder of Psychology alluded to Greek mythology when he discussed his theory.  Therefore we talk about the Oedipus complex, the life instinct as Eros and the death drive as Thanatos.  Aspects of his very influential theory are derived from some of the Greek myths which were complex stories about Gods and Goddesses and their interactions with humans.  In ancient times, these myths served as a guide for human behaviour by illustrating the consequences of these aberrant acts and highlight the good actions of heroes.  The myths also served to explain the unpredictability of nature.

Joseph Campbell showed that the ancient myths are still pertinent in today’s society having been re-structured into present day myths such as “Star Wars” and the like.  Therefore it appears that human behave and its myths have not changed very much over the millennia - three thousand years on and we still seek out heroes and heroines.

It was with that in mind that I painted and exhibited a series of artworks that examined these aspects of our humanity that are characterized by the classical Greek myths.  The art exhibition was called “In the Images of Goddesses” and each painting celebrated an aspect of my own character, as represented by a Greek deity. I have reviewed a number of these in this blog site (see blog posts Nos. 9/13/15/44).

 

“The Rape & Abduction of Persephone” has been frequently painted in Western art.  The paintings often show Hades carrying Persephone off and the subject of the artwork is often trivialized by Persephone being depicted as being in rapture and ecstasy.  This is because much of Western art in the past has been sponsored by men.  These wealthy patrons would prefer to see rape as a “seduction” depicted as sexual persuasion to which the woman forced to submit against her will, instead of what it actually is, brutal, demeaning, criminal and abusive. 

The myth tells of the harvest goddess Demeter’s rejecting the advances of the gods towards her daughter Persephone and hiding Persephone away. “The story of the maiden’s abduction by Hades against her will is traditionally referred to as the Rape of Persephone.  Zeus, it is said, advised Hades (God of the Underworld) who was in love with the beautiful Persephone, to carry her off, as her mother Demeter, was not likely to allow her daughter to go down to the Underworld. Persephone was gathering flowers with Artemis and Athena—in a field when Hades came to abduct her, bursting through a cleft in the earth. Demeter, when she found her daughter had disappeared, searched for her all over the earth. In most versions she neglects the earth and in the depth of her despair she causes nothing to grow. Helios, the sun, who sees everything, eventually, told Demeter what had happened and at length she discovered Persephone had been abducted by Hades and is forced to live in the Underworld.  Finally, Zeus pressed by the cries of the hungry people and by the other deities, who also heard their anguish, forced Hades to return Persephone to her mother Demeter.

The story continues... Hades indeed complied with the request, but first he tricked Persephone by giving her a kernel of a pomegranate to eat. She ate four seeds. It was a rule of the Fates that whoever consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. Persephone was released, but she was obliged to spend four months of each year in the Underworld. This time represents Winter when the earth is dormant.”  (from Wikipedia)

The myth served in ancient Greek times to explain the cycle of the seasons to a civilization that had no real understanding of the workings of nature.  Thankfully humankind has advanced and now has unlocked much of nature’s secrets.  One would also hope that humankind will have advanced in its behaviour towards woman and children and regard rape and abduction as serious crimes against those who are defenceless.

My painting of “Persephone” deals with the despair felt when subjected to abuse.  The painting is not alluding to the possibility of my being raped and abducted.

No – it’s about the universal abuse of women over the ages.  As recently as a couple of hundred years ago, women were the ones burnt at the stake as witches when they used herbs for healing.  Women still are being subjected to abuse in this world today as shown by the recent demonstrations by women in India over the rape and abduction and murder of a young woman in Deli recently.

We can choose to ignore these “distasteful” subjects such as rape and child abuse but they fester like an infected wound and erupt into the open and manifest as something catastrophic like the recent events in India. It is better to address these issues directly, seeing them as they are, instead of pretending they do not exist. 

Artistic techniques used in the painting:

The composition of this painting is dominated by the diagonal upward thrust.  This gives the viewer a sense of unease.  It is a very forceful image and a little off putting.  The dominant shape is the cleavage.  The red against the dark blue accentuates this forceful shape.  It suggests violence and a renting apart.  As I have mentioned before in my blog, the viewer should not presume that a colour such as red means anger or blood, but given the subject of this painting is rape, it is clear that blood is involved.  The thin white line beside the red accentuates this colour and draws the eye to the enclosed cleavage or rent.

The background is subtly graduated and is a delicate blue/violet colour and represents tortured skin.  (The yellow on the left hand side is staining through age of the photo and is not part of the painting).

This painting is fairly large and is quite a statement when seen.  It is meant to alert the viewer to the screams of the victim as she is dragged to her demise - Persephone is ravaged.

The simplicity of the whole painting adds to its dynamic effect and brings home the message better than most of the sanitized version of the past.  What do you think?

http://www.buderimartstudio.com