This series of over 35 paintings was from a very active painting period for me between 2006 and 2009. I will revisit this style again as I think there is so much potential with the techniques I worked out at that time. Perhaps not the vertical line again though.
Starting with an internal image that I’ve seen many times in my minds eye, a vertical, dynamic ever changing line that I can dive into. Like an interface between dimensions, deeper and deeper into other spaces, and perspectives. It’s a theme that I’ve touched on before, and can be similar to the ways the elements intersect and rub on each other. Like the wind eroding a mountain or life starting at the edges of the ocean and land. An analogous process happens in our egos as we work through it’s layers back to our real selves.
These paintings aren’t trying to illustrate this specifically, but trying to touch the energy of the internal process and vision through color and texture.
Technique:
The technique I worked out over that 3 year period starts with several textured layers as underpainting. Using acrylic gloss medium mixed with different amounts of water I mix-up several cups with my color mixes of fluid acrylic paints. These are just barely swirled into the medium so they don’t mix. The painting is laided flat and a layer of medium is layered onto the surface and spread evenly with a very large pallet knife. The paint mixes are poured together down along the central stripe and then pulled out with a large metal spatula that I’ve made for this purpose. This process is repeated several times with layers of transparent glazes in between opaque paint.
Most of the paintings are on panels as this assists the working process that requires them to be flat for the pouring and pulling of the layers. For some of the larger canvases I supported the surface with a wood panel up underneath the canvas to keep it flat without sagging. Then the final painting is completed on a more conventional vertical position so I can step back to adjust colors and texture to make the depth work in the painting. I want them to read as real paint on a surface as well as have the shifting illusion of depth through color.
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