The House Plant, 2, 4th draft, 21cm x 29cm, 8" x 11.5", 2012, Moleskine folio Sketchbook, oils.
Where it ended up. Dark, gloomy. It's the black. Most artists don't use it at all. It's very hard to work with. Oh, ok as an outline or as some clothing or a hair colour or to efface a section... but if I start with a black background rather than white I always run into problems. Even though coming from nothing, arising out of the blackness, works for me metaphorically, in paint... it's been most challenging. I had hoped my relation to black had changed and so I began optimistically with a black background (brushed, not fully opague), but it hasn't changed.
The black beneath the colour sucks all the brightness in, leaving a dark, greyish, gloomy surface. I admit I did not use another underlayer of a lighter colour but painted sap green right on the black, which was absorbed immediately. You could only see it in good light.
Last night, in very dim light, I dry brushed some magenta and white onto the painting. I also drew the outlines of the leaves in a permanent acrylic ink, bringing the plant back to recognizable. Not sure why I do that either, but it is part of my process, negotiating with the patterns of the concrete, actual world of recognizable forms.
Magically, and there was a lot of oil paint on it, it is dry enough to turn the page of my Moleskine sketchbook and continue on. I may again start with a black background, because I am challenged.
Brenda- you may have begun the painting as that of a house plant.. but the attention grabber here is the planter ! It seems to have a life of its own, a whirling dervesh :) Light, mystical lavender and subtle whites .. The plant also seems to be revelling in a magical moment.. leaning into a light.and the sparkling spots on the surfaces of leaves and surrounding space are like a dancing entity .
ReplyDeleteThis painting has definitely decided to become a story about the planter rather than the (admittedly ) dark plant. I like it. We never seem to pay attention to mundane things that hold up the glamorous realities for us..
Minakshi W
I'm still learning how to paint on black - has me very challenged at the moment. I don't think this painting was very successful - the black underpainting absorbed the colours! Green disappeared into it. The pot, the pot created itself in the effort I was making to paint the plant! That's how it is... and the pot is the star! I can see what you mean, now that I look at it. Thank you so much for a really great comment, Minakshi... I was delighted, overwhelmed, humbled, grateful. Paying attention to the mundane things... yes, without that wonderful pot, the plant could not exist in its potting soil on my dining room table. That's true of life, isn't it. What upholds us is often not what we focus on.
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