Flamenco dancer I - final... Preparing the grounds for a new series in 2011!

Thanks to all who volunteered comments in the context of this highly experimental piece (some came via Facebook). This morning, I gave it a few finishing touches to see how far I could go with this idea, which started with my previous partial deconstruction of a face a few weeks ago...

 last summer, I planted the seed of "deconstruction" in my mind, i.e., the idea of partially fading a face or a figure into the background to create an aura of mystery. To that effect, I wanted to use expressive brush marks (almost destructive!) to partially obliterate the initial figurative design. This experiment is a step in that direction... and it's no surprise that I've elected to use a loose piece of canvas to do it!

With regard to my palette, I also want to make greater use of yellow and red in 2011 to add some punch to my fairly monochromatic color schemes (colorful in a close up but rather monochromatic from a distance). This is another frontier in color exploration for me, and it will require some readjustments.

Other than that, I will vary the grounds (raw canvas, gessoed canvas) to promote further variations in the look of my works. I've gained a fair amount of freedom in my figurative work in 2010 (more palette knife helped) and I'm heading in the direction of even more freedom in 2011.

A new series in 2011: "Smoke and mirrors" will be used as a platform for these new approaches under development...

Note: I cropped a few inches from the upper section for better balance...

Note to self: "It finally dawn on me that what I really want with this exercise is to provoke a clash between pure abstraction and pure figuration, disorganization and organization, ugliness and beauty!"

Subnote to self: "It also dawn on me that the foundation of my art so far has been around the use of high contrasts and fairly muted colors applied with less nuances (fairly flat) and with deliberate separation between color areas (sort of more of an urban look in the making). The painting above would be a departure from that, akin to going from "power" to "cuteness", at least in my view. What can I say? Any new potential development offers an opportunity to cogitate! I must not lose my anchors! Let's say that with this painting, I've absorbed the painterly approach! Need to stick to the program!"