In a short time I produced a number of small studies on the hot press thin stock paper that I eventually used for the painting of Five Apples in St. Remy. I wanted to get used to the paper because it was so thin it handled quite differently than the usual cold press 140 pound press paper. The 140 pound is thicker and has a better finish on it so the washed of colour hold well and the contrast is sharper. The thin stock stuff seems to soak up the paint making it look kind of flat and dull. I figured out that lines looked good on this paper, and really tried to use expressive brush strokes to create the image. The other thing I was experimenting with was Vincent Van Gogh's style he developed in his relatively short (8 year) painting career. There are several elements here that he used: the sun is bright yellow even though the sky is a purple-grey, and the whole scene actually looks more overcast than sunny-day. He used paradoxical lighting to create dream-like pictures. Even so, I couldn't help putting some yellow reflections on the heart-like object, the mountains, the grassy field, and the ocean. The other thing he often did was create a plunging (seemingly sloping towards you) foreground, which makes the viewer feel like they are floating or flying or smoking something. In retrospect I had been using this trick for awhile without knowing, for example in "The 2010 Solution". I also had Lawren Harris in mind when I painted those strange looking mountains in the background. There was a time when I was trying not to copy famous artists, then I just figured that if you could paint like one of them then more power to you! Not to mention many artists including Vincent Van Gogh copied other artist's paintings and borrowed stylistic elements. I'm like Sylar from Heroes, the bad guy hero who stole other heroes powers.
8 x 10" hot press thin stock. November 2018
On the B side is another abstract, I call this one Voyage to the Legendary Isle of Sixe (LIS)...
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