Instant Nostalgia

This painting was inspired by both sides of the world you could say. I began the painting having been in Montreal continuously for several months, then, leaving the painting half finished I went to Ile de la Reunion for a time. When I returned, I completed the work, working from right to left. The Bottom right section with the partial cathedral apse and stained glass and everything above was done pre-trip, and the central and left portions were post-trip. Without planning it, my mood influenced heavily the design, the pre-trip portion is grey and gloomy, a little overcast even, while the post-trip section is sunny and filled with light, no doubt inspired by the hot tropical island, and the acute sense of danger you get from live volcanoes falling rocks and deadly sharks. Oh yeah, and there is some kind of theme to this painting too but I wont say what.

"Colour temperature" is a classic artistic device that is taught in school. It simply means that certain colours (red orange yellow) are perceived as warm while others (blue purple green) are seen as cool. A painting usually has some kind of overall temperature, this painting being pretty much warm. I tend to use temperature variations to make the design more interesting, or provide depth. For example, on the right section of the painting the cathedral section is all in red/yellow/oranges, while the area above it is neutral, and the background is a purple/green. This gradation of temperature makes the viewer sense depth. I also used contrasting temperatures to draw attention to the two focal points of this painting (the skeleton holding the egg and the double-helix-DNA womb-woman). The skeleton is cool on top and warm on the bottom, and the background is reversed, warm on top and cool on bottom. By doing this, a persons eye will be drawn to this area. The DNA woman also has a contrast, the DNA is red, while the womb is cool green, again, this draws attention to this part of the painting. For other areas that I don't want the viewer to linger on (like the foreground bottom left) I kept the temperature more even. 


22x30" cold press. summer/fall 2011

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