River Thames-ish

the last before the far-off, 12 x 12 in study for making a world series

Artists employ many tactics to break through to the subconscious and get themselves in a place where they are responding to the process and what the paint is doing on the surface.  To get to where they’re painting not what’s in their mind or where their mind thinks they should go, but tapping into something, someplace else.  A “trick” I use, especially when I’m hoping to express the abstract with the abstract, is to take a starting image (anything, photograph, image of another artist’s work) which has a successful composition, lay in some forms from that composition, and then flip the painting.  I then have a starting point from which to explore paint on surface.  No more references, just me and the work.

This painting began with looking at an Elmer Bischoff painting (I love the backgrounds in his figurative works).  I layed in some dark areas and then flipped my board and went from there.  A lot of paint on and wiping off went on in the process of creating this little painting.  When finished, I returned the painting to its original orientation.  Love that bit of moonlight peeking through in the mid left (accident, didn’t paint that).  Seems very Turnerish, River Thames-ish, I agree.

The last before the far-off.  12 x 12 in.  Study for larger work.