Thursday, December 29, 2016

A new string of paintings... triggered by a "geisha calling"!

Over the last few weeks, I have dedicated a few paintings to another subject of interest: the Japanese geisha,. This is a departure from my usual politically motivated works...





Back to the use of Japanese paper and ink, I see more of a commercial potential with a simpler treatment of the image.  The relative absence of color can even lead to a more powerful statement, as demonstrated by my "burning geisha"! I am motivated to pursue in that vein!

Thursday, November 24, 2016

"Stopping hand": pushing the enveloppe with the previous approach...

I was curious about using the previous approach with my usual subject matter...


I managed to get a relatively good control with the free flowing ink on raw canvas. I was prudent with the use of colors, not to obliterate the ink underpainting. Knowing that a varnish will darken existing tones, I could go lighter on the ink.  Also, a bolder use of colors, the next time around would go in line with the looser style I want to develop...

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Finding a way with acrylic ink...

Recently, I used a commission work to explore the use of acrylic ink on raw canvas...



After some trial and error, I achieved a level of control similar to that achieved with Chinese or Japanese black ink on rice paper. Now has come the time to destroy these perfect black and white images with bold impasto colors!

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Giving a shot at Japanese black ink...

The production of a realistic black ink image on rice paper has been a goal of mine for a while. Last week, I dug up a high quality Japanese ink stick and an ink stone to see how this method (grinding my own ink) compared to the use of regular liquid black ink. I wanted to have more control on tonal values, something I find hard to achieve with liquid ink. I also wanted to produce better greys.

Using a multilayered approach, I produced this painting on rice paper, which I glued to raw canvas as a second step...


The resulting image exceeded my expectations. In the future, I want to intervene on these black and white renditions using bold color passages, without having to overuse paint in an attempt to mask imperfections that should not be there in the first place. The clash between a perfect black and white image and bold paint is for me the ultimate in contrast...

Note: I have used fine charcoal or soot directly on raw canvas with some success, but I find black ink on rice paper to be superior. Moreover, textures can be obtained while mounting the paper onto canvas

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Soaking in art...

In late September early October, a couple of weeks was spent in Amsterdam and Belgium visiting the family and taking advantage of museums (Rijksmuseum, Van gogh in Amsterdam) and art exhibitions (Dali in Liege, private galeries)...




Back to my art, I did an experiment framing one of my recent works using a plexiglass casing. This could definitely be an interesting avenue with a number of my collage paintings.


Saturday, September 10, 2016

The white shadow II - Zeroing in on a pictorial vocabulary for the near future, and perhaps the long run...

I restated my previous painting with more freedom in mind, execution wise...


... riding the wave of chaos with Chinese black ink and acrylics on rice paper glued on raw coton/linen canvas. Freehand drawings have been added, letting them drip haphazardly. Moreover, I did away with the background, letting shapes come out in a bold fashion. Lately, I've returned to using charcoal on raw canvas, but in a way, nothing beats Chinese black ink.

This rendition is more "white shadow" then ever! For the first time, I seem to want to live with this character for a while... the perfect blend between two races, the inter-connectivity between humans and animals, the concept of the threatened human race, in a nutshell, concepts that speak to me more than ever!

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

"The white shadow"... probing deep into my inner self and letting it come out!

As I'm approaching my tenth year of experimentation with acrylics, I feel the need to let go, in the spirit of "now or never"...




Finding my own voice is of the essence! This has been my artistic saga... and maybe there is a glimpse of hope...

Saturday, August 6, 2016

White knuckles in Malawi... trying to use my usual vocabulary in a slightly different way!

The summer is a slow period for me with regard to my art. Nonetheless, I completed this painting piggybacking on my approach with the previous painting...


I want to use more lines, mingling drawing and painting in my renditions...

The summer is a time for reflection for me, letting nature speak to me...



Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Pursuing my series... "Saving Ivory"...

This painting was totally exploratory...



I took the opportunity to explore drawing and painting in a manner I never did before. For this one, I also used fluorescent pink in my color mixes, which makes this painting difficult to photograph!

It has been postulated that staining elephant tusks pink could prevent poaching (however, it's never been implemented, but I like the idea). With this painting, I'm extending the concept to African albinos! I paint driven by exasperation...

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

"Ebony and ivory - crucify me" - the start of a new series!

Over the last few weeks, I have worked diligently on my last painting until I was relatively satisfied with the imagery...


I already have an idea for the next one!

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Partaking in a goup expo and branching out on a new subject matter!

Every year, I have a chance to participate in a collective exhibition using the Centre des Loisirs de ville St-Laurent as venue...


 I took the opportunity to exhibit recent works from my series on Native women and Mayans... triggering anxiety and/or admiration (my rendering of faces and stares) on the part of the public. Needless to say, I always enjoy people's reactions to my art, especially when they are strong!

The recent situation in Malawi, has prompted me to initiate a new series called "Ebony and ivory"




I seem to need these triggers to get excited about painting!

Saturday, April 23, 2016

While taking a relative break from painting... an experiment!

Back from vacation, I let go of any serious work, preferring to experiment to delineate the boundaries within which I intend to work with my future works dedicated to the body...


There is potential in the transparent application of paint on raw canvas, but a next step would be to overlay passages of thicker paint while selectively leaving certain "first pass" passages intact... in the end it's a matter of balance!

Monday, April 18, 2016

Return from vacation... evaluating new directions!

Spending 10 days in Samana allowed me to decompress artistically speaking...



Back to drawing classes, I realize that my drawing capabilities improved to such an extent that I have much more freedom of expression in that medium than in painting. While on vacation, I toyed with the idea of allowing more freedom of expression in my painting, in essence dragging some of that newly found fluidity into my painting process... Over the years, I have developed a number of techniques which I could use more freely, all at once!

Thursday, March 17, 2016

"A Canadian portrait"... trying to use paint and textures to communicate something!

This last painting started as a full figure and ended up in this fashion...


A simpler composition emphasizing the essential...


In the end, I settled for an encaustic effect (picture taken under intense yellow lighting), which I've never really used in my years of experimentation.

Friday, February 26, 2016

Buffalo woman, tackling the smaller scale figure...

Because I have favoured painting large scale faces up to now, gaining freedom in the painting of smaller scale figures has been a challenge...


This 28" X 28" painting points to possibilities using loose brush strokes driven by less attachment to a realistic rendering...

After two and a half years of live model drawing, I would like to go with pure imagination rather than relying on reference materials, i.e., photos or drawings. Imagination is stronger than reality!

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Experimenting with paint: "California sunrise"!

In the midst of my current series I decided to interject with an experiment on paint application...


In the recent past, I have been interested in  the creation of images on different supports, in a way focusing less on paint application and brush stroke effects. Surrounded by abstract artists, it's tempting to explore a "paint for the sake of paint" kind of approach. Balancing abstraction and figuration is definitely a key objective in 2016.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Completing a couple of painting projects... "At your own risk" and "Messenger"...

I spent the month of January working at the completion of two paintings for my series on Native women...


After somewhat exploring the disappearing image, I decided to inject more punch by exploiting the image of a weerwolf...

Note: I'm satisfied with my exploration of new painting surfaces (integrating raw canvas, mylar, Chinese rice paper and wire screening) using acrylics and charcoal... but the urge to depart dramatically from quasi photographic renditions is getting stronger. I think it's time to go for more freedom... more abstraction in my figuration...