Ancestors

Ancestors was made up from a composite of drawings out of my work notes from last year. It was done on the back side of the painting that I recently posted called "A Little More Brazil". Rarely do I paint on the back of paintings because you obviously can't frame both unless you are especially clever... but I just wanted to get this one done and had not prepared any more paper. The style is classic doodleism with  bold outlines mixed in with free flowing washes. The theme is evolution... strange fishy creatures emerging from the primordial soup and floating into the starry night.

The outlines are not just an aide, but there to provide energy and form to the composition. I started the painting with the outlines... filled in all the colours, then I went over the outlines once more. I tried to make the outlines look alive.. they reflect the light from the fire, they get colder as the reach towards the night sky, they have a life of their own. Notice though, how not everything has outlines... the clouds on the far right are a good example, and the yellow, blurry fire in the background. The elements in the distance have much weaker outlines than the elements in the foreground, which helps create a sense of depth.

In summary, well controlled outlines can give energy, form, colour, light, and depth to your composition.

11x15" cold press (B side) 2013