Month: June 2013

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Driven to Abstraction – Paintings 27, 28 and 29 for 2013

/>Cataract Gorge I, oil on board, 30x40 cms
Cataract Gorge II, oil on canvas, 45x54cms
Cataract Gorge III, Mixed media, 62x62 cms

This is a series I painted recently exploring the abstract qualities in a scene — a landscape ‘close-up’ taken at Cataract Gorge, Launceston, Tasmania. The photograph was a great illustration of erosion at work and it had already had a strong abstract design. I wanted to see where this would lead when the shapes were simplified and the natural colours intensified. So, I painted version I in a naturalistic way, and then, using painting I as the reference, I painted simplified version, No.II, and using II as the reference, I painted III, this time using oil pastels, acrylic washes and encaustic media to develop a rich surface texture. I really enjoyed the project and look forward to trying a similar approach with some of my old landscapes.

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26/100 for 2013 – King Solomon’s Caves

King Solomon's Caves

This painting was done as an exercise in the Uni course I’ve been doing. The texture is built up with polyfilla moulded into shape with glad-wrap. I was working from a photograph I took of King Solomon’s Caves in Tasmania. The resemblance to the photograph is not too close, but it does perhaps have a bit of a cavey feel to it. It was an interesting project, and I think I’ll be using the technique again, provided the polyfilla sticks on OK.

King Solomon’s Caves: Oil on board-mounted canvas with polyfilla, 40×50 cms.

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25/100 for 2013 – Sunworshiper No. 1

Sunworshiper 1 - Oil on canvas, 61x81 cms
Sunworshiper 1 – Oil on canvas, 61×81 cms

I have some lovely photographs taken a few months ago when I had a figure model around to work out some ideas.She did a bit of floating around in the pool as a break, the day being hot. Strangely enough I haven’t got around to painting any of the planned scenarios we worked on, yet, but I thought I’d give this one a try. I love the colour and shapes made by the water and sunlight. The painting is actually a bit more aqua-coloured than this. I am considering coating all of the painting except the exposed skin areas with two-pack resin to enhance the reflective look.