Escape Route

For me science and art provides a good balance. When I do art I forget about science, and when I do science I doodle all the time which gives me lots of ideas for the art. Okay, I guess it is a bit of a lop-sided balance. In this painting I tried to depict that balance, portraying 'art' as a boardwalk-gallery with plants, and 'science' as the mechanical guts underneath. A staircase connects the two parts. My art dealer at the time (from Artisan's Alley in London Ontario Canada) suggested the title, which is very fitting and indicates that the purpose of the art is to act as an escape. The other notable feature of this painting, is that I do believe it is the first time I painted stained glass (see under the boardwalk towards the right. There is a lot of detail in this painting and yet it all seems to flow together. To help unify the details I made sure that all of the pieces of the 'science' were tinted with purple. In this way the details seem to fit together, and the viewer's eye is more comfortable. Similarly, the art gallery part is tied together with yellow oranges. The cool colours of the science also contrast the warm colors of the art, which further intensifies the idea that the two halves are different. By using colour in this way, you can make the idea of your painting much stronger. 

Escape Route, watercolour 11 x 15" hot press, 2003 (No. 1423)