July 2008
"Intelligent Co-operation"
I began work on a new painting yesterday for the president of an American chemical engineering company. This is a great pleasure, as the same gentleman already owns one of my paintings, and has paid me the compliment of coming back for more!
The brief for this particular picture is complex and detailed. There is a range of quite specific symbols that must be included. Each element of the painting will represent an aspect of the innermost thoughts of my client. As such, I need to communicate with him closely in order to represent those symbols in a way that is in harmony with the images he sees in his mind's eye.
During our initial discussion by instant messenger, I sketched rapidly as the scene was described, and added notes to the drawing. Working through the sketch later it became apparent that there are details that need to be resolved before I fix the final image in my own mind.
One problem that presented itself immediately was perspective. In order to paint all the required details, any form of linear perspective will have to be thrown out the window. But that's ok. The significance of the symbolism in this painting has its own reality, greater than a mere brush can portray.
Further consultation changed the initial design somewhat and added a deeper symbolism. The three Rings now form the main focus of the painting with the other details encompassed within their form. Filaments of Light permeate the landscape emanating from an 'undescribable source'.
I will explore the symbols as they are added to the painting.
Burning the midnight oil to get the composition right.. the photograph neatly illustrates the colour discrepancies created by working under artificial light. The paper is actually off-white.
The rough sketch on paper establishes relationships and proportions.. all subject to change!
The next phase is to get the design on canvas. Dinner plates are good for getting the circles! The background is blocked in with acrylic gesso and a basic design sketched in with the same.
The geometry was fun.. once I'd found a spirit level for the easel! Proportions are established and some colour added to the central panel. This is based, at my client's request, very loosely on the Vitruvian man of da Vinci. However, the geometry is different and this man is a warrior, armed with sword and spear.
The colours and shapes indicate the elements and their mating, as well as referring the viewer to the Hermetic phrase, "As above, so below".The figure at first glance is male, but on closer inspection will, I hope, be almost androgynous when painted.
The next stage, as it involves a lot of slow drying oil paints, starts from the left panel. This will represent an Isle of joy and sorrow, mirroring the contrasts in human condition at the inner and outer level. The weather, sea and landscape will reflect this and hidden within the clouds and rocks will be faces and half seen creatures.
The soft dawn glow contrasts with the dark clouds looming. Will the clouds smother the sun or will the growing Light clear the clouds from the sky?
In the distance stand two mountains framing the rising sun, like pillars or sentinels.Before them is the portico of a great Temple, yet in the mountain itself is the simple doorway to the inner world.
August 2008
Well, it's late Sunday evening and, apart from a few final touches that are waiting for paint to dry a little, the painting is about finished. The current photo is full of glare from the wet oil, but gives an idea.
In the left hand panel, figures have been added, discreetly. On the beach is a couple, holding each other and their child as it plays. On the shore is a small coffin half in the water. Is the couple embracing in grief or in joy? Does the man hold the child to love and protect, or to keep control? Another man hunches over a woman kneeling before him .. to guard her or to strike her? Another figure wanders alone, perhaps drawn to the Temple, perhaps towards the bodies impaled on stakes. Who are these tortured souls, and for whom is the empty stake? Does it await the wanderer, or the figure emerging from the waters? Or was it once occupied by the robed figure by the Stones?
In the central panel, within the elemental geometry, stands a figure, or is it two figures, one behind the other? The figure looks odd, neither male nor female, though it could be either, or both. It is armed wth a raised sword in the right hand and a spear in the left. For some reason I felt I needed to add a skin in the left hand, perhaps a jaguar skin.
In the right hand panel is an eagle, symbolising Divinity, soaring through an unreal spectrum. The colurs diffuse outside the rings, mantaining their nature, but changing their aspect. The rings are bordered in light.
Now I have to hope my customer approves!
1st September
Phew! He likes it!
A few details were altered to reflect my customer's personal vision..the sun changed to orange red, the weapons had to change hands and a faint cocoon of light added, barely visible, to the central figure. Otherwise, Intelligent Co-operation is now drying and awaiting shipping to America.