It's been ages since I have posted on my blog..(where does time go!!) ...and I am now going to update a few photos of my latest body of work....however, firstly I want to briefly explain how I arrived at this new work.
After my creek project where I had collected, cleaned and kept buckets of plastic items retrieved from my local creek, I had the intention of utilizing these objects for subject matter for still life paintings. I intended to make them contemporary
vanitas works highlighting the threat of some of our urban habitats due to the plethora of plastics. "Still life ..silt life". I began painting with my usual immediacy, but felt my results were rather poor and inadequate. I looked at many contemporary artists but eventually went back to Matisse's work ...his use of colour, his flattening of the picture plane; and the use of pattern etc. The vanitas theme pushed me further back in history to the Golden Age of the Dutch masters, and in particular the still life genre..... I was in heaven with the voluptuousness, flamboyance and sheer technical brilliance of these paintings and it was here that I decided to stay.
The paintings I have listed today are the results of my attempts to learn some of the glazing techniques of the Dutch still lifes; some of the subjects have been appropriated from small sections of the old works; some from my sketches and photos.
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"Roses, tulips and buds"..One of the first of my larger paintings..oil on canvas, 120 x 90cm
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Some of my paintings in my studio...in various stages of completion...the largest is 120 x 90 cm.
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| Oils on canvas..each 90 x 90cm. The first two are finished but the third is unfinished..will probably morp into something quite different in the end. |
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| Subject is a study of a section of an old Dutch painting..will have to look up original artist's name (sorry!) |
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| Unfinished work..120 x 90cm..oil on canvas. I will probably paint in an opaque background..just feels too recessive at present. |
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| "Bauhinia"...approx. 60 x 70. oil on board. Completed and painted from photos I took. I incorporated a glazed dark background reminiscent of theDutch painings, and the bee is from a Renaissance woodblock..a reference back to my inspiration. |
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| This smaller painting is still a work on the easel..I took a series of photos at a local nursery. Here I have cut in the background with an opaque salmon colour...gives a much more contemporary feel. Will be putting a bug in somewhere. |
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A couple of my palettes...love some of the colours. I reuse old corflute offcuts for my palettes as the white background is so good to work on ...also a bit of recycling:)
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I hope you have enjoyed my photos and I will be back sooner than later this time!!
