Studio Work Sep/Oct

  • 21 October 2024

Following the September seminar week and the crits, I have tried different colours so that the subject matter is not romanticised. The ones that stand out to me are the digging and dredging ones, damaging the river and land, leaving it empty of life. Reminds me of the artist Yvan Salomone and his large watercolour paintings.

For an exhibition at Railway Street Gallery, I collected all the butter paper studies in a book. Uncomfortable exhibition - taking work out of Whitecliffe and studio, into a public space where visitors are expecting 'finished' work. Images of the Q&A at exhibition by ArtsDiary.
 
I completed a family portrait large in green. Someone told me that the colour made his lips purse, which was a reaction I liked.
 

Another larger butter paper dredging image, but added Kahikatea trees around it as an experiment. Not so pleased with result, but may look better on watercolour paper. Trying blue after another commenter said that Green = Nature.
 

Dredging images on watercolour paper soaked in river water & mud. Liking this.
 
Thinking about brightening the colours, more lip-pursing. Most of my paints are earthy colours but I did have a hot pink and a super-granulated bright blue. Painted on cold-press watercolour Hahnemule Britannia, not the best quality. I like the result!
The image with the green tree, I will expand on this in another composition. Whitney Bedford uses bright colours to paint a sole tree on top of her art historical laandcsapes.
 
Using the bright colours seemed affirmed after visiting the Shane Cotton's New Painting exhibition at Gow Langsford - "His new works place ancestral figures in surreal, cosmic landscapes, exploring hybridities, transformation, and the cyclical nature of history. Cotton’s paintings blend history, mythology, and technicolour imagery, reflecting on the layered, nonlinear relationship between the past, present, and future in Aotearoa." https://gowlangsfordgallery.co.nz/exhibitions/354-new-painting-shane-cotton/

Super Radiance, 2024 acrylic on linen 1200 x 1800mm

Trying out different combinations of colour:

I like the pink and blue, but not sure why yet? Is it a little bit less lip-pursing? Are these 2 colours a little softer, more acceptable, closer to romantic but still disturbing?
 

 

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