This painting has a more architectural focus but is also densely patterned. In the past I've battled the impulse to add a bunch of aimless colors to paintings. Sometimes when I follow my impulse the painting looks like a pile of jelly beans. With this in mind, I've used a very real setting to ensure that my pallete doesn't wander too far.
There's a house I photographed in Mississippi last year. It's been abandoned since the 1970's, down the street from my Grandparents. It's the first of the houses I have in mind- I want to do at least six paintings of this carcass before it's reclaimed by the forest that's around the south and west sides of the building. Not all of the paintings of this house have an architectural focus. This is actually the third painting of this site. The first two are here and here.
It's inspired by the work of Jennifer Bartlett, whose book I found to be amazingly interesting to read as well as to look at. Her work Air: 24 Hours is astonishingly different from her pointilist color fields and balances the geometric focus of her print work with a colorful and painterly approach.
The point of doing this particular painting with Bartlett as an inspiration is twofold: I would like to glean some experience relating my work to the past works of other artists, and I would like to participate in SWAN Day.
SWAN Day is an open studios event for me. In my studio complex there are over 30 participating artists and we'll be hanging our works in the common halls. All works placed on display in the common areas must be inspired by women artists. At the end of March, this painting will be up for all to see in a hall with the works of others. And my studio door will be open for all visitors to come by and see.
No comments:
Post a Comment