Space Noodles

Abstract painting has always interested me, the first real abstract I did was one called "Science v. Art" in 1995. After that I concentrated on landscapes for the most part, it was not until 2000 when I literally woke up on January 1 and said to myself that this would be the decade of abstract. So it is 2013 now and no looking back! In this painting I worked hard on the overall craftsmanship of the work, making sure that each part received the necessary attention to detail and finish. As for the inspiration behind it, this is a composite of about three doodles I made in my notebooks last year or so. The theme relates to mankind and what defines a person... or something like that.

The green creature in the middle was created with many layers of paint, maybe a dozen. Usually I do not use such complex layering, but the goal was to have a very realistic depiction of a textured reptile like skin. To begin there was a blue wash, followed by several light green, and finally orange washes. The orange was to give the sense of reflected light. Then I applied dry-brush washes to give a roughness to it all, like it was a dimpled scaly surface. Creating a realistic image is challenging, but it does give the viewer a sense of craftsmanship, and enhances the believability factor. I was inspired to do this after viewing some of my older paintings during Christmas (which hang in my parents house), I had gone through a photo-realism phase where the final work, mainly landscapes, looked like photo. I'll try to get these strange abstracts looking like a photo... that would look cool.

11x15 cold press. 2013