Shifting perspectives
Here’s a reworking of an old painting from 2020. Having dropped the photo into the newsletter, I noticed an interesting conundrum arise around the composition as it relates to scale. On my laptop screen, the blue square in the top right-hand corner feels quite dominant – there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, but sensibilities as a painter change and I’m finding I want fewer things to look at – creating a calmer space for surface texture, pattern and colour to breathe.
So, not for the first time, I’ve found inserting an image into a scrolling feed is a handy way of re-evaluating composition – and I think I now prefer the above version for its simplicity.
That was until I previewed the newsletter for smart phone.
Here, the painting appears less than half the size of the desktop version, which in turn is roughly half the size of the original. So all the subtle, quiet stuff I intended when sat in front of the easel is lost and the bolder, more direct composition with blue square starts to feel more interesting.
Shifting perspectives is an interesting challenge in painting and the answer frequently lies in making the painting work both up close and from a distance. I spend half my time leaning toward and away from my paintings, squinting at them with glasses on and off – I do think poor eye-sight can be an asset in this regard. The work is never intended to be viewed in two dimensions, back-lit on small screens but so often that’s the only way it’s seen.
Incidentally, the petal shape with the dots on it was making me think of those lovely hammered copper table tops you used to get in proper old pubs. The painting is/was titled after The Fall’s last ever studio album, before Mark E Smith sadly passed away. So join me (if you like) as I pull up a figurative stool and raise a glass to the great man himself. 1
Big things
I enjoyed this interview with Megan Rooney and found a lot of what she had to say about painting resonated.
The painting only gets its unique, individual personality by giving it a lot of different experiences. It’s not something you can rush. If you try and rush the surface, you end up with something superficial and I really reject the idea of formulaic painting, which is why no two paintings of mine are ever similar.
I’m still figuring out how to paint, there’s a mystery to the process that I don’t think you want to resolve.
The harder you work, the worse it gets.
Strangely, this timelapse video seems to contradict all that, but it’s interesting nonetheless. I can feel the struggle – the scale seems too overwhelming as there’s not a brush big enough; it looks like you’d have to throw the paint or hose it on somehow. Definitely a lifetime’s worth of paint for me right there on that wall.
And here’s an artist I stumbled upon via Instagram this week, setting up his 1,000 paintings exhibition. I have utter respect for the guy, seems he has quality and quantity. But it’s a LOT.
One hundred and eighteen
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That’s a lot of doughnuts and a lot of food colouring! 😅💙