M
Martin C
... of the Specials, who left us far too soon
Acrylic on paper, 70 x 50 cm
Acrylic on paper, 70 x 50 cm
M
Martin C
Thanks CaliAnn & Wayne! I probably need to go a bit sparser for the next one.
Enyaw
namuh
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or stronger relationships that bind the whole
M
Martin C
Thanks Wayne. I see what you mean -- its always interesting to hear others' impressions as I am now looking at it with different eyes. My original thought was that the intense red 'junctions' would serve to bind things, but they're a bit overwhelmed by some of the other stuff, particularly in the 'land' part.
The process I've been using recently does risk neglecting the macrostructure at the expense of local details, as it involves a very fast (this being acrylic) final stage that feels a bit out of control. I probably ought to slow things down a bit with retarders...
The process I've been using recently does risk neglecting the macrostructure at the expense of local details, as it involves a very fast (this being acrylic) final stage that feels a bit out of control. I probably ought to slow things down a bit with retarders...
M
Martin C
Thank you so much Ayin! The preceding day I was exploring what top layer colour worked best with the lower levels, so I had 5 smaller cards with shades of turquoise mixed with varying amounts of blue and green, and I found that organising the cards to form a kind of abstracted landscape somehow 'worked', so I set about painting this one as a single sheet yesterday. I forget who said that a single horizon line is enough to shift from pure abstract to something else.
Donna T
Well-known member
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Oh wow this is fantastic, Martin! Thanks for explaining how this came about too. I appreciate any thoughts on how to abstract the landscape and how horizon lines are so powerful. I like how you created a rhythm with the reds and pinks that keeps our eyes moving around the painting. Maybe the horizon gives a sense of the landscape while the action of the colored shapes above and below preserves the sense of the abstract? I feel like I might be learning something ...
M
Martin C
Thanks Donna! I'm still trying to find where I found that comment about the horizon line (I have a feeling it was someone writing about Nicolas de Stael, or perhaps Joan Mitchell).
The other thing that I've been experimenting with recently is depth from colour. If you look at the work on a bright screen and let your eyes relax, you should be able to see the reds coming forward and the blues receding. This much has been known about for a long time (I got the idea from Klee's 1929 painting Fire in the Evening), but what I was trying to achieve here was to get more than two depth planes. I think having the green in the mix helps to create an intermediate depth layer, but that might just be my eyes. There's still so much we don't fully understand about colour perception, and I find it very exciting to explore this space.
The other thing that I've been experimenting with recently is depth from colour. If you look at the work on a bright screen and let your eyes relax, you should be able to see the reds coming forward and the blues receding. This much has been known about for a long time (I got the idea from Klee's 1929 painting Fire in the Evening), but what I was trying to achieve here was to get more than two depth planes. I think having the green in the mix helps to create an intermediate depth layer, but that might just be my eyes. There's still so much we don't fully understand about colour perception, and I find it very exciting to explore this space.
