Returning Angels

I’m really enjoying playing with these angel designs at the moment. Here’s a new one I made in London last week. I painted this using an iridescent orange acrylic which really catches the light. I used a lovely blue/grey Paynes Grey for the angel figure – the two set each other off really well. I plan to keep going with these and I have ideas for some more larger scale pieces in the series.

This piece has been sold.

Layering and Masking

Layering and Masking. Letting go of the need for certainty. Working on something knowing it can and will change, as it emerges over a period of time. We rarely make time for this kind of thing, yet it often helps us think and do things differently.

During a recent two day art meets organisational development workshop in Berlin, we carried out a number of experiments. One of them involved layering and masking, building up and changing a piece of work over several iterations. Each person in the room was given a blank canvas, and encouraged to develop their work in layers over the course of the time we were together.

I chose to be quite orderly in my attempt – first masking out three lines across the canvas, then applying the first layers of paint. I used different tools to get different paint effects, and each time I returned to the artwork, I re-obscured most of the lines, and added more paint. Here are some photos of the work emerging over a 48 hour period.

Stephanie Barnes was a member of this group, and she produced a completely different work using a variety of different tools, including scrapers, bubble wrap, and a rubber comb to apply paint. I love how this artwork changes throughout the process – barely any traces of the original layer remain.

This was a really enjoyable process, I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to experience something emerging and changing over time in an improvisational way.

 

Direction of Travel

This is a painting for my loving, supportive, wise friend and wife, Carole. Her favourite colour is blue, and the image is intended to symbolise movement, a journey, hence the title – Direction of Travel.

The painting is 20cm x 38cm, acrylic on canvas. I painted this in several layers, over several days, trying to add light and shade and through the thickness of paint, a little depth too. I rarely use acrylic paint – and I really enjoyed making this so I will make more use of this medium in future.