February 15, 2011

A New Painting: "Double Curve"

Double Curve, egg tempera on calfskin parchment, 6 3/8 x 5 inches.


This image of deep cool reds is a solemn one, very different in mood from most of my previous work. There is no bright sunlight with its attendant shadows for liveliness, and the simple curved shapes seem to insist on dignity. The perspectival line of the foreground shape aims for the "eye" of the brownish bolt. Seriousness is called for.

As I was working on this painting, building the layers of paint, it seemed as though I was making a relief sculpture. The different planes moving back and forth in space became almost real to me. I may have written about this before: it is an uncanny feeling of paint becoming a solid object under the brush. It is also a thrilling sensation, as though by magic I am not just depicting an object but making one.


2 comments:

  1. I love the sculptural feel of it and the tones Ireally like theeggplant color.

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  2. thanks RC; I must have succeeded in the 3D effect if you feel it.

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