SOAKED

In the last couple of weeks I have received some really good news. My entries for the Prometheus and Moreton Bay Art Awards have both been selected as award finalists. The two exhibitions and the announcement of the awards both take place in May.

My painting 'Sending Love' oil on linen 80 x 180 cm has been selected for the Prometheus Award and 'A Frisson With Distance' oil on linen 85 x 147 cm has been selected for the Moreton Bay Art Award.

I am working on another large oil painting and so far I have created the underpainting. This process takes time and lots of mess. The time is because I layer paint and each layer needs to dry before I pour/paint the next one. The mess is caused by the highly diluted [with turps and oil] paint spilling and dripping onto the floor and me walking in it! I do have the garage door open when I am doing this as the fumes are strong.

This afternoon I will start painting the surface image. I have ideas running through my head. I want to paint an image which from a distance seems to be almost moving waves of colour, but when up close the colours are distinctly discernible. I will use my tree-of-life motif to create this vast yet intimate image. I am thinking that a map of the world loses its manmade boundaries when viewed from a distance because they just cannot be seen. Yet, up close the boundaries are clear reminding us of difference. Perspective is a wonderful thing...as long as you keep moving. With my new painting I want to show that whilst the colours are distinct they actually grow from their neighbouring colours. In other words I am replacing borders with a fusing of colours to indicate connection...of all kinds. And, from a distance the sense of wave-like movement suggests a connectivity that is vibrant and fluid. An alternative to the rigidness of a map.

So, it will be intersting to see how the painting works out. Generally if I have thought about it for awhile it just flows...with the odd moment of frustration!

The painting above is a recent work on paper again focusing on my previously mentioned interest in water. However, I have loaded it up today not to talk about water, but to describe how my works on paper influence my oil paintings. Some of my thoughts for my new large oil painting have grown out of the processes involved in creating my water paintings. As I have said before I actually use water to help create the effects ie: wetting all or part of the paper before applying colour, using a spray to 'wash' the paper and to generate changes in the way colour performs and so on. I really give the paper a work out. The idea of a wave-like work in oil came to me after working with watery effects on paper.

So as the weeks ebb by I will keep the BLOG updated on progress with my new large painting.

Soaked Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm unframed 2009