Another burning geisha in the making!

Leveraging the momentum I built up so far with geishas, I initiate another one in the larger Eastern township studio...

So far I have used a relatively subdued approach which has a broader appeal, but I feel like a volcano ready to erupt! I feel the urge to introduce wild things into these zen-like patterns. Somehow, I need to find a balance between painting for myself and painting for walls!

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!

"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...

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!

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

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.

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!