An hour this morning allowed me to bring this picture closer to a finish. I am gradually working the foreground... with some hesitancy... because I don't want it to come forward too much. I want everything to be like a blur in the back...
This afternoon, I awkwardly scumbled my way to more or less of an acceptable basic design for the foreground... so I reserve a few surgical brushstrokes tomorrow to add "make believe" freshness to that area. I don't want the guy on the right to be a strong focal point... he needs to blend with the rest of the reddish foreground area...
Interestingly, with the figure above, I managed to go from a Caucasian look I didn't want at the start (I seem to be programmed that way!) to an African American look at the end fairly easily. With the previous painting, the runner I eliminated went from African American to Indian from India despite all my efforts to keep his initial look intact! A runner from India would have been more plausible in a marathon. The conclusion to this is that I hate working in details on a half inch head, it makes me lose mine... and of course I need to develop my power of observation!
Note to self: "It seems to me that over the last year and a half or so, I've been doing more illustration work than real art. My intuitive need to develop and test my acrylic techniques and color palette, and push my limits in pure figuration led to that. It's not where I want to go ultimately, and very soon this will be a dead end avenue for me. I need to develop a very personal artistic point of view, which may be as important if not more important than technique... if I'm gonna go anywhere in art in the next 5 years. I've been toying with the concept of "larger works which are abstract in a close-up and figurative from a distance"... but even my most recent works don't fully reflect this philosophy at this stage. Another concept, which I implemented somewhat, is the "over exposed figure with strong patterns of light and dark". The first one is more conducive to the exploration of colors, the second more conducive to experimenting with composition and the use of black, an interest of mine. One thing is for sure: I would like to be different... but I can't push it!"
A last pass, short of stepping on it with dirty feet, got me closer to where I wanted to be with this painting...
A few surgical brush strokes should do it by tomorrow... for a while I was not sure if I was coming or going!
Another three 30 minute sprees, holding my breath, gave me this:
I need to stop since I'm getting blue in the face! I'm going for a finished product that looks unfinished... however, the middle background still needs to be resolved... need to think...
In the next phase, I will connect fragments to produce larger color masses and go for maximum highlights confounding both foreground and background elements in an attempt to give an even abstract quality to the whole picture plane. I'm treading unknown waters... let's hope I don't drown!
However, I totally let go this afternoon still imbued with the spirit of the Caribbeans... going berserk on canvas for the first time... with no restraints... as if wanting to part dramatically from the tradition that I have established so far...
Now, if I can show some restraint in the final phase, this painting is likely to give me the "warm fuzzies"...
To my surprise, the scene remains fairly believable... although this is far from a master piece.
This afternoon, I awkwardly scumbled my way to more or less of an acceptable basic design for the foreground... so I reserve a few surgical brushstrokes tomorrow to add "make believe" freshness to that area. I don't want the guy on the right to be a strong focal point... he needs to blend with the rest of the reddish foreground area...
