Deconstructing Colors

I've been wanting to follow up on my discussion about color from the last post. I realize that what I find so interesting about Monet's work is that color is deconstructed and that gives his work life. I learn so much when I look up close at his original paintings. He had such an incredible sensitivity to color and really knew how to use it.

I like the idea of painting a green tree, but not using any green. Instead I might use blue, purple, yellow, black, etc... Then, I would paint a blue sky without blue. If you paint the tree's leaves, using only green paint and a blue sky, using only blue paint, I think the resulting images will often feel flat.

Leaves

2008

2008

2007

2007

2007

I love to paint leaves. I don't paint a lot of realistic images--I'm usually just not interested in rendering things. I prefer painting abstractly because it gives me more leeway to experiment with color. I do like looking closely at autumn leaves, however: they're all so different and painting them is like painting portraits. Their color patterns are fascinating to me and I'm often surprised by the colors that I notice. For example, I really enjoyed painting the purple leaf, above (with the orange/red background). This leaf was pretty much dead and had to be handled very carefully because it could easily get crunched. Who would know that it could have purple and blue in it? I like looking closely at paintings by Monet for the same reason: he found beautiful color combinations in haystacks that you could not imagine if you were to just think about haystacks.

Openings

Openings, 8"x11', 2009

I have mentioned before how I like the idea of multiple layers in my paintings. There are at least 3 layers in this painting. What I find interesting , is that the bluish circles, which could be perceived as holes, really don't reveal that much (the painting could be called Openings?). There is a whole lot more going on with the multi-colored central form, which looks human-like to me (my son thinks it looks like a dinosaur!). The circles only become transparent when they are on top of the central form. I have more thinking to do about this image!

Titles

For the last few years I have rarely titled my paintings. It seemed to me that if a title didn't pop into my mind while I was painting, then the painting should not be titled. If the absolute perfect title wouldn't come to me, then leave it alone--a title would not be authentic. I also thought that a title would limit how people would look at an image and I wanted people to come up with their own impressions.

Well, now I've decided to try titling my paintings more often. I am wondering: maybe I've been cutting myself off from too much verbal thinking and maybe I'm in a bit of a visual rut. (blogging is another way that I'm sticking my toes into the verbal dimension!)

I am trained and have worked as an art therapist. I've not been practicing for a few years, but recently I've been tapping into that part of myself. The psychological issue of "denial" comes to mind when looking at my art with a therapist's eye. Are there things I don't want to think about? If I start applying words to my art , what's going to happen--will I dig up stuff? Maybe it just feels safer to paint and leave it at that!

I'm not sure why, but right now I'm increasingly amenable to seeing what happens when I add some words to the images. I've now given titles to some of the art in my previous postings. I'm not sure they are the perfect titles, but maybe I'll learn something about myself and my art with them there.

Fun with Tape

Untitled, 2004, 9"x12"

Untitled, 2004, 9"x12"

Untitled, 2005

Untitled, 2008

There was a time when I just used masking tape to tape the watercolor paper to a flat surface before painting. At some point I decided to use it as a tool in my paintings. I was interested in masking out straight-edged sections . Initially, I simply thought this would add some interest to the paintings: I liked the contrast of the geometric structures and plant-like forms that I painted. As it turned out, I learned a lot through the process of applying tape to paintings in their early stages and then removing it later. For one thing, I noticed how the tape would preserve one layer while I was creating new ones. I actually started focusing in on the multiple transparent layers in my paintings and this really changed the way I painted.

For a while I became addicted to using tape in my paintings and would put it on and take it off at different stages. I'm sure I really became addicted because I loved the suspense of waiting to see how everything would look once I took off the tape. I enjoyed taping and re-taping and integrating unmasked areas with the rest of an image. Now I've decided it's necessary for me to find new and interesting things to do with my paintings every once and a while: it keeps me coming back and it helps my art to grow.

Eyesight

Insight, 2009, 9"x12"

When I was 2 years old I got glasses. I was diagnosed with farsightedness and I had (still have) a lazy eye. In my first year of highschool I got contacts. I got kind of slack in caring for my contacts and got tired of wearing them. By college I wasn't wearing anything. My vision was always fine without glasses. I only ever noticed my "lazy" eye getting lazy or tired when I had been doing art for long stretches of time

My daughter now has the same issue as I had and got glasses when she was not quite 3 years old. It's been a bit of a struggle getting her to keep them on because she can see without them and they get in her way! (My mom recalls having the same difficulty when I was young!!) I have just gotten glasses (again) too . I've realized how important it is to have them. In the last 9 months or so I have had more opportunity to work on my art and this, I think, has made me feel more of a strain on my eye. And, with age, my vision is begining to deteriorate some. I've been having trouble focusing my eyes and I'm sure that this has affected how my images look. There is a lot going on in my watercolors. I often use bold lines and mandala-like formats to contain everything. In my latest painting, the shape of an eye seemed to emerge quite naturally. I immediately felt the connection between my strained eye and the image.

And the struggle goes on: I don't feel completely happy with the prescription for my glasses!

Collaborations

Here are a couple altered images by my brother . He is quite a good digital artist and also enjoys experimenting with color. From my last post, he took the third painting from the top to create both of these. I'm hoping he can turn some of my paintings into screen savers!