What & How we see is equal to, how we convey it. A visual translation into its own language is how I choose to speak to an audience, hungry for a commonality expressed in paint. In an age of mechanical reproduction, from the most basic of tracing or graphing the image & modified digital recreations, masquerading as original art, makes the search for ‘art’ a more difficult task. Like all academic skills they have their place, but creation is creation, an original, an original, & a copy, a copy.
Even more so, it seems now a days anyone with a digital camera or cell phone, is a photographer. Please push the envelope if you’re going to claim said status, pretty pictures are a dime a dozen, even the misappropriated ones which seem abundant. That said, a photo is a great way to remember a moment you’ve experienced, so when I’m not painting on location I use them as emotional, as well as visual references, for both great times had & potential future paintings, expressed. In this photo capture the serenity of the beach, the quiet sounds of the waves rolling in as the birds, seagull & sand piper alike , spend their time looking for breakfast, along the shoreline.
The photo I’ve taken has seemingly crisp lines separating all entities and our eye has averaged the colors into blocks for easy understanding. Having been here, to this location, a beach, and making mark, a visual memory, I know that the color and light are much more dynamic in person and have set out to paint there depth and interactions.
Here I’ve begun by toning a 24”square canvas in an acrylic prism violet. The violet gives a subtle color continuity to the painting as a whole and when my sgraffito technique is used to scratch into the surface paint, thus giving an even greater depth. This also helps to give direction and the allusion of motion. After brushing in preliminary shapes and blocks of color, I get busy with a variety of palette knives, layering in the water, sand & birds along the shoreline. Artistic license is used here as I’ve made just a suggestion of the Sand Pipers, as to keep our primary focus on the Seagull. With the Seagull in mind, I’ve also modified its location and changed ever so slightly the shape of the wings & legs to give the appearance of lift off, where as the photo it’s running toward that moment.
I’ll spend weeks, days & a great many hours thinking about my approach and what my intended statement is, before ever picking up a brush. Once it’s in my head though, I work very quickly, blocking, layering & building the image, as to make it a non static representation, trying to keep it fluid, moving and changing. That being said, rather than a moment trapped in amber, I’m creating a moving , living landscape of the world we live in and you’re invited to come along as an active participant.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this peek into my thoughts & creative process.
As always, you questions & comments are welcome,
Richard
Shoreline, Seagull & Sand Pipers
24”x24” oil