Blue Flames Consuming the Stylized Image of a Woman

A while ago I posted a small study under the name Blue Flames Consuming the Stylized Image of a Woman (posted June 3, 2008), which was the basis for this full sized version. It is not often that I do a larger work based on a small study but on occasion I have done so (eg. Love v. Jealousy-unposted), and in the future I suppose it would be nice to turn some of the smaller works into larger, more detailed paintings. Doing a repeat also gives you the chance to fix things, for example in the Blue Flames study, the woman has flowing purple sideburns which distract from the woman's neckline, in the larger version the shapes of the sideburns remain but are incorporated into the overall abstraction of shapes rather than part of her figure.

In the full sized version the concept remains the same but the technique is more elaborate. People have asked how the flames were painted. It was a combination of wet in wet techniques and dry brush. When the underlying blue is wet, you can drop in the other darker blues and they kind of diffuse around. Once dry you can then put more on top, and use clean water to feather out the edges, making it look like flowing fire. I also lifted paint off with a clean brush. This painting like all others is by no means perfect (the gallery in London would not take it), the paint is overworked (too many layers, too much brushwork makes a dull grey haze in places), and the composition is far from ideal. I love the concept and the colours, so perhaps I will one day try yet another version. Maybe painting is like research....sometimes you have to repeat stuff over and over till you get it right?

Blue Flames Consuming the Stylized Image of a Woman, watercolour 22 x 30" cold press, 2002 (No. 1991)