Monday 18 January 2016

Letheringham Lodge - Photoshop paintings

These drawings were created from layers used for the Lodge animation. When creating them I treated each drawing individually, looking at them here I can see that there are differences in tone which would need to be adjusted if they were to function as part of a set of works. I will look to print some of these images. Being the first time I have worked from reference in many years I had initially been concerned with this change in direction. However I am finding that in trying to describe the richness of texture of my source images I am using an expanded range of mark-making techniques, leading to more dynamically 'charged' surfaces.

Mark Tobey is an artist who I have been inspired by for many years, an abstract painter who's work links to the spiritual he is known for his distinctive 'vocabulary' of marks which he used as a personal language to craft his works. To my mind I have always read his mark-making as purely abstract or semiotical in that it represenst spiritual concepts rather than representational objects. I was therefore surprised to find this Mark Tobey quote:

"On pavements and on the bark of trees I have found whole worlds" Mark Tobey

At a time when I was questioning my decision to work from source material this quote seemed to confirm my decision, helping me to take a new leap of faith back into working from reference.

While previous work had deliberately been all-over in nature here I have exploring composing pictorial elements, this alludes more to individual pictures rather than patterns. Continuing in the footsteps of my last animation 'Au Courant' this move away from the all-over is something I intend to explore further. While I am enjoying playing with compositional elements in a way I have not for many years I am still undecided as to the ultimate direction my work will take. It may move back into all-over fields of interest but for now I intend to continue crafting 'pictures'.












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