Stripes, egg tempera on calfskin parchment, 9 x 6 3/4 in.
I never repeat a motif, always trying to do something a little different to keep me interested, except in the case of these pink and white stripes. A year ago I worked with these stripes, an image flatter and more abstract than this one, which you can see here. At that time I was struggling with where on the continuum from representation to abstraction my paintings would fall. My paintings now are a bit more abstract than they were a few years ago, but I've become comfortable with the sliding around in a range of abstract representation. I have some friends who wish I'd paint abstract pictures, and some wishing I was still painting landscape, but here I am, not settling into one fixed idea. In this painting, the stripes are dominant, flat yet edging slightly forward with the tilted green plane. The top plane also tilts forward from where the two meet; then there's that arched space at the top center, receding into darkness; all is flat, yet spacial, with bright light and cast shadow bringing it closer to the real world.
Stripes, detail
I love the color harmonies in this rendition of the pink stripes, Altoon.
ReplyDeleteI think it is the strength of your color vocabulary that allows you to slide on the abstract/objective continuum with great success - that and the consistent balance of your compositional sense.
Thank you, Ravenna. I've only recently begun to think of myself as having a color sense, since for so many years my paintings were more focused on drawing. I appreciate your view of the work very much.
DeleteI believe one strong reason this works is its sense of mystery.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that comment, Julie. Since I know the origins of the image, it doesn't hold that mystery for me, but I'm very pleased that it has that quality for you.
DeleteIt's not the literal image, but the atmosphere I find mysterious. The most compelling part of the piece for me is the tension along the light/shadow line.
ReplyDeleteI'm really happy to know that my straightforward way of painting images can give rise to that sense of mystery; that means a lot to me, thanks.
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