Art Journal, May 28th, 2023
Robert Waters' Art Journal for the week preceding May 28th, 2023
This piece started as most of them do. That is, I did the grey clouds then built around them. The line of stones is meant to be the teeth (bottom row) to the clouds’ loose face. As far as cloud figures go, there are a lamb and a dog. Perhaps an octopus tentacle too.
Here the clouds came first. Then the trees, middle ground and foreground respectively. This is a loose version of the Divine Man sculpture at COSM (see last week’s Art Journal). I wanted the figures to be more expressive as well relational rather than just the Man himself. There is a 90 (or two 45) degree angle in the middle lower right about a third up the page. It makes a window for the other figures action in that area. It doesn’t seem to be constricting because some lines penetrate the frame. There is no top or left side to the frame. But look, I’ve reduced the entire character of the right-hand figure to its perceived function. The right is also very tree-like. The left is Venus, and the right is Saturn.
This painting actually started with the tree on the left, then the clouds. The tree on the right (staff) next, and then the mid-tone greens and yellow. Finally, the viridian. This is a more or less direct Divine Man with a staff. The left figure looks like a straight-forward dead tree trunk. There is a spiky-haired figure growing out of the middle of the trunk on the left of the picture.
This picture shows the abstract trees that are also figures relating to each other in a landscape. The colors indicate a dense forest beyond the figures. A yellow mist stands in for distant trees on a neighboring slope. There is a grey cloud and blue sky above. The sienna and ochre at the foot of the painting indicate soil or a natural forest floor.
I didn’t use a lot of layers here. I drew the cloud first. And then the picture was left to sit while I decided what to do next. The various hills came next without much work. I let it sit again for a bit. Based on the shape of the cloud, I decided to make a swooping thing that mirrored it in some way. There is something more dense issuing from the less dense.
I entered this into the Allegany Arts Council Members’ Exhibition. They will show it. I hope it represents something about the nature of my work for people to see. I’m not sure what that is, but I thought this represents a looseness that I want to be associated with, as well as particular color palettes.
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