Walking down a cobblestone path with your past, present, future, memories, and fears. From right to left, dancing, motion, colour contrast, then a maturation, procreation, a gradual easing, and then pale, lying down. The five characters became a metaphor for life, it wasn't what I intended when I started this painting, but it is what emerged from my sub-conscious. Every now and then I try a painting from scratch, a type of poetic free association exercise. The botanical biome and other-worldly design is reminiscent of the lemon sunset theme but I avoided putting the smiley faces in the windows because the tone of this painting is decidedly introspective.
I got a big surprise when I painted this- either the paper sheet was somewhat defective, or I may have messed up the soaking/stretching phase. The paint was absorbing strongly which de-saturated all the colours, and there was a rough texture all over making it looked like I sanded the whole thing or something, you can see by zooming in. In many ways, these effects are what led me to make the painting the way it is. Neutral, rugged, a little rough. In these free-association exercises you just go with the flow to reach your destination.
22 x 30" cold press, watercolour, 2018
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