Monday, April 30, 2012

Samana fauna - step II... The urge for freedom!

This first color pass with a two-inch brush for the most part is giving me a taste for complete freedom in execution...


The urge to integrate my two recent painting styles is becoming more and more powerful as I'm preparing the grounds for a third final pass...

Note: I raised the woman's head one "floor up" and decreased its size to get rid of the creepy "quasimodo" look

Note to self: "I think it's time to pave the way to a more kinetic approach to paint application!"

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Samana fauna - step I... The hell with decorative painting!

I just came back from Samana, and I can't resist making some societal statement about an "odd couple" we crisscrossed over there...


If I go with full colors, may be this piece will be more decorative than white walls!

Note: I'm cutting off the guy's head... because it's the way I see ;-)

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Samana 2012!

This was our second time in Samana, Dominican Republic, and its natural beaches were still there to mesmerize us...


 Our visit at the national park of "Los Haitises" was the highlight of the trip, especially the huge caverns with pictographs from pre-Columbian Taino Indians...


Monday, April 16, 2012

Taking a slant on the wild side!

A "crash and burn" vacation in Samana, Dominican Republic...


My intent is to get as much "latino" colors in my head as possible for a week!!!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

A few days before vacationing.... a moment of reflection on the floor!

Over the last few months, I've opened up a new window regarding my approach to art...


... that of the image for it's own sake (all paintings except the top left), a dramatic departure from the "paint for the sake of paint" approach (top left painting). Some of these new works compare favourably with my older more visceral ones despite the lack of textural effects with impasto paint.

The use of calligraphic lines and the application of textures with a roller to partially destroy realism is a recent compulsion of mine that I can't seem to shake out! With calligraphic lines, there is the potential to go free style and even disregard the underlying image. Using more colors with these new methods is a challenge for me, as I don't want to lose the power of monochromatic renditions (I'm still in the process of figuring out the best approach with more colors). In terms of technical aspects, raw cotton seems more compatible with the new approach than raw cotton/linen (cotton provides a smoother surface for staining).

Despite the appeal of the new techniques, I'm not willing to discard the more painterly approach. After all, I managed to produce some noticeable visceral works with it last year. It looks like I'm gonna have 2 streams of works for a while.... until I can combine elements of both!

In a nutshell, a few things to mull over during my vacation...

Note to self: "Some key learnings: retaining high contrasts, considering warm greys to enhance adjacent colors, applying more freedom behind calligraphic lines, leveraging new techniques in specific areas only (less is more) and recognizing the strengths inherent to each of the two styles (flat and almost immaterial  images with bold calligraphic lines that seem to anchor them at least temporarily; painterly and textured images seemingly taken by the void)."

Subnote to self: "Calligraphic lines that hold their own without the underlying vanishing image, like the last black ink marks of a Zen master!"

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Femme de feu XIII final... Still learning "roller 101"!

With this third pass, I ended up discarding selective deconstruction in favour of using the roller throughout the picture plane for better or for worst...


With this new CMY color triad for me, I'm forced not to pre-mix colors too much, retaining as much as possible the purity of each color. With the roller, it becomes "impressionism" on a roll on the verge of disaster!

Note to self: "Riding the wave of chaos, all of a sudden, becomes irresistable!"

Subnote to self: "I lost the original value gradient after the last color pass with the roller, so I will need to readjust my colors during the first few passes in the future. This was less of a problem with a monochromatic approach and a dark background."

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Femme de feu XIII - step II... Leaving some room for the roller!

This second pass was used to firm up values before proceeding with some deconstruction with my 3 inch roller...


At this stage, the illustration look without impasto paint is rather conventional in my view. I hope to jazz it up... by departing a little from pure realism!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Femme de feu XIII - step I... Running out of ideas!

As I expressed earlier the desire to take a new direction with my art, especially when it comes to colors and perhaps subject matter, all of a sudden, I find myself out of ideas in the pursuit of my current series. Still, I want to keep experimenting with my new methods under development...


A beach volleyball player with red locks seems appropriate (30 X 30 canvas). I'm anxious to see the impact of the roller and calligraphic lines on a subject like this...

Note to self: "I'm due for a break from my dark art approach, yet I'm still interested in portraying powerful women, in control!"

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Femme de feu XII final... Leaving this one unfinished!

The second pass provided an opportunity to test my recently developed techniques with color in mind as opposed to my usual monochromatic chiaroscuro approach...


I don't feel the need to pursue any further, since I said what I had to say...

In this experiment lies the promise of  a more artistic approach, but to achieve this new apex, I will need to surrender totally to my heart and disengage my brain as much as possible from the creative process!

Note to self: "I want to meet the challenge of contemporary artists, particularly the ones associated with raw art and a colorist's approach!"

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Femme de feu XII - Step I... Fiddling around with CMYK!

I still had a piece of raw cotton canvas left (30 X 30), so I decided to attempt something different. I zipped through 3 color passes...


... using a printing "CMYK" color scheme, but cheating a little with a blue black. As an "artist in the making", my heart toggles between chocking and pleasing. It was fun to explore the former for a while!

Note to self: "Can I decorate walls?"

Monday, April 2, 2012

Femme de feu XI final - A final pass with modulation in mind!

I decided to finish my painting in progress this afternoon...


This final pass was an attempt at balancing out figuration, haphazard deconstruction and graffiti-style line making. Although, I have favoured this "colorful monochromatic" color scheme for a while, I'm anxious to explore some real colors for a change! I'll be in the Dominican Republic two weeks down the line, and I know this will have a major impact on me and the way I see colors...

Note to self: "This is my fourth painting with the roller... a good time to assess the technique and identify ways to improve on it!"

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Grandpa in the park with Charlotte- What's wrong with that picture?

A break from painting...


Gee, I was wearing a tank top outside a little more than 1 week ago!