24" by 36" acrylic and mixed media on cradled wooden panel.I'm pretty obsessed with the form of the curly leaved hybrid chrysanthemum. Unlike my usual mode of working from life, when I want that image I work from photographs. They are complex and I'm allergic to them. The drawn blue image is a plant called "Blessed Thistle" and was commonly used during the Middle Ages to treat the bubonic plague and as a tonic for monks. I got this image from one of my favorite copyright free resource books called "Handbook of Plant and Floral Ornament from Early Herbals."
This piece feels kind of different for me. Using a more limited palette this time made it so much easier to create unity than my usual mix of many colors. Also in this painting I used thick and thin paint and layers of collage to create a sense of space that has some breathing room to it. With a lot of my past work, it seems like my paint is thick throughout and gives the space a uniform feel. Does this ring true to you?
This painting will be in a Center for Contemporary Arts show that will combine paintings with floral arrangements called "Arte d'Fleur" I'll give more details later.
4 comments:
I love this, Polly. Usually I'm too backward to really appreciate mixed media, but this is really special. I especially like (and I'm going to show my ignorance here) what I'm assuming is thin paint (blue) in the bottom right quadrant that was allowed to run...and also similarly the line of beaded paint in the top right quadrant...these little sections remind me of sheet music, and add another media to the mix for me. :)
Thanks very much! I love your interpretation of the sheet music. In fact, I use sheet music in some of my collage pieces. That is dripping paint you see. Now when I use dripping paint, I always think of an artist I admire talk about his work saying "I feel too old to use drips in my paintings now" I am unwilling to feel that old yet though!
Hi Polly,
I think out of all your work I've seen this is the most dynamic. The differences between thick and thin paint show a real depth of field and movement. I think you should do more of these!
Thank you Crystal! That is so validating to hear. It's a struggle to keep a variety of thick/thin. I seem to end up all thick paint.
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