technology@pull

In this painting, strange alien-like people support or pull at each others arms while a sun sets over a calm sky. Silhouetted on the horizon is an old windmill suggesting a rural area. I suppose the premise of this work has to do with how technology can advance, pulling us in other directions as we still try to hold on to the old technology.

You may wonder how I created the halo of pink light around the tree line. When the sky was still wet, I put in a layer of red paint which 'bled' out into the tree shapes. When the red was just about dry I put in the darker browns of the tree. The trick is to know when the paint is just wet enough to add the next layer. Too wet and the second layer diffuses all over and you loose the shape, too dry and you can not get the delicate 'feathered' effect. The same trick was used to create the multi-coloured sky. It is all a matter of practice.

technology@pull, watercolour 7 x 5" cold press, winter 2007 (No. 1455)