The 2010 Solution

Surprising, but I never posted this painting, probably because I finished it in January, winter of 2010... it is always difficult to get a quality photo in the winter, it kind of went forgotten in my portfolio until today. It is bright and sunny, so much in fact that I had to reduce the exposure on the camera to get the colours right. At the beginning of the last decade (2000) I painted a pivotal abstract painting, in fact one of the first since 'Art vs. Science' 1995... that began a string of abstract paintings, one a month, for the years 2000, 2001, onwards. When 2010 was approaching I wanted to create a painting that also represented some kind of turning point or beginning perhaps. The answer? 'The 2010 Solution'.

I did not shy away from a Dali-like surrealist landscape on this one. I also kept a lot of open spaces, most of the painting is done in thin coloured washes. Some areas are more detailed, like the bar, and the funny creature smoking, as well as the neural-network/rooted thing on the right of the smoker. Instead of creating a wall of doodles, I tried to feature each doodle more prominently, each has it's own space and time to exist in. In retrospect (it is mid 2012 as I write this), this painting helped to open up the style... let it breath. Together, with the just finished "The Paper Chase (No More Outline)", I am pretty excited about where the style is going to go next.

22x30" cold press, 2010

The Paper Chase (No More Outlines)

Following 'Creative but Can't Escape', this painting develops the concept of working without outlines...basically there aren't very many at all except in the papers that are under the foot-shaped lamp in the middle, and a few others here and there. The subject matter of the painting is very organic, abstract twisting hands and feet, multiple skylines, strange plants populate the landscape. Yet all the elements are connected...that concept, of connecting elements, is inspired by Inuit art that I saw when my family took some trips around Ontario... Norval Morrisseau was one of the most famous ones.

 Still based on notebook doodles, in 'The paper |chase' I established the elements using flat washes instead of starting with a painted outline. I had to control the washes very carefully to avoid overlaps... where two washes touch they either create a blur (if they are both wet), a backwash (if one is wet and the other is half dry), or a dark line, if one is totally dry. The dark lines create the impression of an outline even though I did not put one. In some cases I left these dark lines to create definition, in other cases I erased them using a moist brush (not my good ones). By not using outlines, I found that I concentrated more on the quality of the washes, because that is all I had to define the shapes. It also took a lit longer than normal... but it also helped keep up my inspiration since each element was almost immediately established as opposed to making outlines where you have to finish the drawings in steps.

22x30" cold press 2012

Fertile Idea

Are all ideas fertile? I guess this one was. The character in the middle is spewing fire from his forehead into the sky... otherwise the sky is raining fire down onto his poor head, either way it sounds hot. Anyways, the doodles I used to make this painting came mostly from a conference that I attended down in Texas. Conferences make the best opportunities for doodles...long lectures, relative anonymity in the crowd, a pen and paper handy...

I've probably covered this in a past blog, but it is worth reviewing, that is, using white, or 'blank paper'. This term is kind of illogical, because if a paper is blank, then how can you use it... if you put paint on it then it's not blank anymore. While you are thinking about that, I'll reiterate that I do not use white paint for my watercolours... white paint does exist but it is more like a heavy acrylic or guache, and most watercolour painters (including myself) consider this to be not really watercolour. A similar case can be made for black paint, it is too heavy and dark and does not belong in watercolour. Of course rules are made to be broken, see 'Birdman' where I use chinese black ink... however it must be called mixed-media as opposed to watercolour. Anyways, there are several areas that are just the blank paper in this painting... mostly along the diagonal axis of the composition. I made the blank sections seem connected, so it looks like a sort of river of white going across the page, that helps the viewers eye move across the page. I also like how the white background makes the doodles stand out. The first Doodleism painting I did that featured a lot of blank paper showing was "The 2010 Solution."

22x30" cold press, 2012

Creative, but Can't Escape

On occasion a painting says something about itself, about the technique. Here, the elements of the painting, the mountain, the buildings, the foliage, even the horizon, follows a grid pattern. The branches of the plants snake along the path of the grid, the flowers and fruit are placed on corners. I did this quite intentionally... the idea came from one of my notebook doodles, it was a reflection on the doodleism style, which involves a careful outline that is then coloured in. Here, the raw, wild nature (inspired greatly by memories of Ile de la Reunion...see St. Denis, view from la Montagne) is constrained by an artificial grid. I am making a statement on the past paintings I have done in the doodleism style... that doodleism is basically glorified paint-by-numbers.

 Like graph paper, a precisely measured grid was created with paint and a ruler. I then overlaid the colour washes, relying on the colouration of the ile de la reunion paitings. This painting represents a bit of a turning point in the doodleism style (even though it itself is not really an example of it).... at this point I was rather tired of the 'paint by numbers' feel of the doodleism style, it was increasingly difficult to stay inspired throughout a whole painting. The title says it all... 'Creative, but can't Escape'.. means 'my creative ideas are stuck in a bunch of outlines, screaming to get free!.'. The next doodleism painting, nearly done, is a direct answer to this problem. I should also note that we moved recently to a new place in the plateau, each time I have moved my art has taken a turn.

22x15" cold press, 2012

Lab Book #7; Construction at Site 22

This painting was posted a few years ago on my blog, but I recently had the thought of taking a better image of it with my new high pixel camera. The quality of the image is better, if you click on the picture you can see a blow-up. It is also interesting to write again about an old but good painting, one which I feel is a 'pivotal' painting, in other words, one that changed the way I painted or set me on a new course. I suppose what this work gave me was an added confidence, I did not know in advance if the massive amount of detail would end up looking any good. I'll let the viewers be the judge, but for me this is one of the most engrossing paintings I have, because of it's size I can not put in my portfolio, so it has been sitting in view on the laundry cupboard for years now, and I still can look at it and find things I had not seen before.

I am currently working on a painting that is tentatively called "Creative but Can't Escape" , it is based upon a linear grid on the background, and all of the elements of the landscape follow the grid pattern. The point I want to make with that one is that this doodleism method, which has really held my interest for the last 8 years and counting, had this inherent limitation. By constructing a work from pre-fabricated doodles, there is not really that much room to be that creative when I make the design.... but the contrary is to start with no pre-drawings, and then you get 'white page fright' which is never good. Anyways, I don't know yet if "Creative but Can't Escape" will be a pivotal painting or not, but I am trying in a way to use the art to explore the art.

Lab Book #7; Construction at Site 22, 2004,  ~50x30"

Another Thursday

Picture this, you're walking down a boardwalk, say in Vancouver, and suddenly an Orca jumps out of the water. Just another Thursday? On top of that the water, beach and sky is a kaleidoscope of colours and shapes. Maybe it's just another Thursday for the Beatles... by the way, the date in the top right is not the date the painting was done, but the date of the doodle I used for that section. It says 7 10 11 which is October 11 2007, I use this order of year month day to keep my laboratory records consistent. In retrospect I found out that Japanese also use year month day.

Reflecting on this style which I coined doodleism, I often think it is inspired by Salvador Dali. Dali created dream like landscape and populated them with abstract objects and characters. For Dali, the landscape was the cake, and abstract forms was the icing on top. My style is a bit different in it's conception... I use a bunch of abstract shapes and characters to create the landscape. That would be kind of like making a whole caking out of icing, and then putting some cake filling on top. I do not remember when exactly I painted this, but the date of the doodles on it, late 2007, suggets that I would have done it some time in 2008.

11x15" cold press, 2008

Opéra de Paris Garnier, Paris, France

Paris has a number of amazing landmarks, this one is the Opera building on the right bank near the big shopping centers (printemps and la fayette). The front view has tons of statues and gilded angels on the roof with all these romanesque pillars and detailing. I took on a less demanding viewpoint, this is looking at the side of the building, focusing on just one of the gold statues. What grabbed my attention was how this sparkiling gold statue stood out against the grey overcast weather.

Painting a gold effect is rather challenging...a lot of it has to do with the surroundings. I started by painting the sky, being careful that the shape of the statue was preserved. At this point the statue was just blank paper surrounded by the sky. Of note, I did not make an outline for the statue, because it would have lessened the sparkling effect. Technically this is called a negative shape, because you are painting the space around an object before the object is even there, it takes a bit of practice. Then I needed to let the sky dry, so I worked on the other elements, the brick, the eagle on the pillar, and the background building. When the sky was mostly dry I started building up the staue with thin layers of nearly pure yellow, followed by layers of amber, and finally some darker browns for shadow. I used each layer to try and make the shapes and contours of the statue, the goal was to have something with volume, but that also sparkled. In several spots the white paper shines through. By placing a golden object against a grey background, the gold really pops out and looks real.

7.5x11" cold press, Jan 2012