further down the stream of consciousness...
Hello!
For those of you who have been following my blog recently, you may recall that I've been carving out some time to paint for myself. Illustration can be fun and rewarding, but I think it's important to create some balance between catering to others ideas and giving one's own personal voice some outlet. Three entries ago when I painted 'Ports' I started the painting with absolutely no plan in mind, I just started making random brushstrokes on the board and then tried to see shapes in them and flesh something out. I enjoyed scrying some sense out of the abstract mayhem, much like a stream of consciousness writing exercise. I then opened the idea up to you guys to see what sense you could make of it, I found it quite interesting. After that I tried a more planned and conceptual approach with 'A Welcome Visitor' I enjoyed that, too, but something about the thorough planning took a lot of the spontaneity and excitement out of the process for me. There was far less discovery and surprise during he process, and I missed that.
So, I decided to try the 'stream of conscious' approach once again. I prepared the board with gesso and a neutral shade of grey and then just started making large sweeping marks on the board. From this I recognized things much like one might while looking up at the clouds, and the idea was to shape and reshape these forms until they felt right to me. During this recent painting I really felt a strong sense of flow, and it wasn't a sense or pressure of perfection that kept me going (some parts were completely painted over a few times), it was just a joyful feeling of creating what my instincts told me and allowing them to be. I've called it 'The Guide', it's acrylic on illustration board, 13x13":
(Vocem is latin for 'voice', for those who wondered)
For dessert..... Every time I looked into the mirror near my drawing board, I would notice this same person staring at me. How rude!! Since it's convenient that he was always there I took advantage of that old saying, "Paint a picture, it'll last longer!", so that's exactly what I did (8x10" acrylic on masonite):
I very rarely do observational drawing or painting, as most of my subject matter is unobservable, though I know I would benefit from the practice. One of the big challenges of drawing and painting from life, I've discovered, is that nothing ever stays the same long enough during the length of time it takes to paint someone or thing. When I've done landscapes, the sun, clouds and shadows move. People gradually move (some models in classes have even fallen asleep), and parts you used to see are no longer visible or vice-versa. I think that's a benefit of the self-portrait, as you can keep as vigilant as you like. However, there were still variables I hadn't considered. The first day I started there was fresh snow outside and it reflected a lot of extra light into the window I normally wouldn't get. The next day, the snow was gone, and the way the light moved across my face had changed- so I had to change much of the painting to keep it accurate. Even the subtle stubble of a day's beard changed the texture of my skin. Unless one works from photos (which involves it's own puzzles), I think the key is to accept the ever-changing qualities and be OK with the differences of what you saw and what you paint. Or so I think.
cheers!
~Paul
For those of you who have been following my blog recently, you may recall that I've been carving out some time to paint for myself. Illustration can be fun and rewarding, but I think it's important to create some balance between catering to others ideas and giving one's own personal voice some outlet. Three entries ago when I painted 'Ports' I started the painting with absolutely no plan in mind, I just started making random brushstrokes on the board and then tried to see shapes in them and flesh something out. I enjoyed scrying some sense out of the abstract mayhem, much like a stream of consciousness writing exercise. I then opened the idea up to you guys to see what sense you could make of it, I found it quite interesting. After that I tried a more planned and conceptual approach with 'A Welcome Visitor' I enjoyed that, too, but something about the thorough planning took a lot of the spontaneity and excitement out of the process for me. There was far less discovery and surprise during he process, and I missed that.
So, I decided to try the 'stream of conscious' approach once again. I prepared the board with gesso and a neutral shade of grey and then just started making large sweeping marks on the board. From this I recognized things much like one might while looking up at the clouds, and the idea was to shape and reshape these forms until they felt right to me. During this recent painting I really felt a strong sense of flow, and it wasn't a sense or pressure of perfection that kept me going (some parts were completely painted over a few times), it was just a joyful feeling of creating what my instincts told me and allowing them to be. I've called it 'The Guide', it's acrylic on illustration board, 13x13":
(Vocem is latin for 'voice', for those who wondered)
For dessert..... Every time I looked into the mirror near my drawing board, I would notice this same person staring at me. How rude!! Since it's convenient that he was always there I took advantage of that old saying, "Paint a picture, it'll last longer!", so that's exactly what I did (8x10" acrylic on masonite):
I very rarely do observational drawing or painting, as most of my subject matter is unobservable, though I know I would benefit from the practice. One of the big challenges of drawing and painting from life, I've discovered, is that nothing ever stays the same long enough during the length of time it takes to paint someone or thing. When I've done landscapes, the sun, clouds and shadows move. People gradually move (some models in classes have even fallen asleep), and parts you used to see are no longer visible or vice-versa. I think that's a benefit of the self-portrait, as you can keep as vigilant as you like. However, there were still variables I hadn't considered. The first day I started there was fresh snow outside and it reflected a lot of extra light into the window I normally wouldn't get. The next day, the snow was gone, and the way the light moved across my face had changed- so I had to change much of the painting to keep it accurate. Even the subtle stubble of a day's beard changed the texture of my skin. Unless one works from photos (which involves it's own puzzles), I think the key is to accept the ever-changing qualities and be OK with the differences of what you saw and what you paint. Or so I think.
cheers!
~Paul
Love what you've done with both pieces, really great work. The amount of mystery and things to explore in "The Guide" is fantastic and worlds you create are most alluring.
Your portrait is stunning and shows your skills very strongly as a painter, really impressive.
Thanks for sharing these!
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Thanks for your kind words, Nick! I agree, this one has a lot of mystery in it, much like interpreting a dream. I tried not to manipulate it too much, rather I just tried to let it come out as it wanted. Some of the symbols I think I understand, but there are still parts about it that elude me. Maybe it'll come to me later.
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Interesting observation on portrait painting, Paul. And one that is completely invisible to us mere observers of art. We see a static view. As far as we know that's a bloody snapshot of you. As long as you don't have a beard on one side of your mug and nothing on the other you'll be able to fool us. lol
The self-portrait has the same slightly unnerving look to it as your portrait of ol' scary-pants Lovecraft himself. Were you thinking thoughts of elder gods while you were doing this?
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Thank you for your comments, Rich, I appreciate them! I never know how much explanation of the painting process people would like to hear, so thanks again for the confirming feedback. A few years back I grew out a full beard and one day shave it off.... but only one half at first, just for fun. That would have made for a wild self-portrait.
Any unnerved look is probably attributed to my trying to cling onto the ever-changing light, hoping I will be able to bring it together into something cohesive.
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"The Guide" is truly exceptional work, Paul, and more "mysterious" than your commissioned pieces (for obvious reasons). I love the fact that you're creating via stream of consciousness, allowing the part of your brain that you can't control to take over for a spell. "Voice," indeed... BTW, on my third viewing, I finally noticed what was behind the forcefully removed door. Subtle...
The self-portrait is stellar. I'd have a very hard time looking into the mirror that long.
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Thank you Mr. Grau! I appreciate your thoughtful comments, and I'm glad you're enjoying my new experiments. Maybe I could get some publishers to play along and let me leave more mystery in there, I guess it would depend on the product and/or story. Aklonomicon 2?
After a while, any subject matter- even my face, just becomes a combination of shapes and shades.
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I like "The Guide". It has a very spooky feel to it with a hardy dose o'mystery.I think I could come up with a dozen ideas on what's going in there. Let's hope you get more
you-art time.
With all the variables you listed for the self-portrait, I think you banged out a very good looking piece(not so sure about the model though
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I'm happy to hear you enjoyed them, Duffy, I think my enthusiasm for a painting often shows in the result- another good reason to explore and expand on my own directions.
As for the model..... hey, you gotta work with what you've got lying around, no matter how homely.
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Gorgeous, Paul, both the Guide and the self-portrait. Amazing what you can do starting from random strokes on the canvas. and the self-portrait is very fine, full of life and emotion. I must do a self-portrait sometime soon-they are a good way to see who you are, inside and out. Your portrait contains a lot of your thoughtfulness, insight.
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Thank you, Jason! I'm encouraged with this new approach, I feel like the process of finding imagery in the random strokes has been quite helpful for me to get my own ideas flowing. I just finished a new one, to be shared shortly....
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