A blue and white abstract painting with black accents
Fluidity is a very serene movement. In this painting I decided that less is more and to let the paints breathe a little more than normal. The result is stunning.
Dark Sun
£3200
A blue and white abstract painting
That’s it really. That’s exactly what this is. Nothing pretentious, nothing implied and nothing complicated. Sometimes it’s necessary to give your ideas some room to breathe; with Absolute Zero I’ve done just that – resisting the temptation to go crazy and simply let the forms speak for themselves.
And what forms they are too. This painting is all bout the shapes of things rather than letting the colours do the work.
Using shapes
The critical part of the painting is the way the forms are structured. I already know how to create rivers of paint on canvas but moving them into these kinds of beautiful forms requires a lot of patience and practice.
At each paint session I’m busy deciding which colours to blend and which ones to leave, I have to consider how much canvas to fill and with what and I also need to compute things like flow rates, directions, balance of tone and how that fits with the overall look I want to achieve.
I don’t find any part of what I do very easy and this is no exception. In fact it can very often be the simpler looking art-works that create the most headaches.
The minimal effect
The result of this effort is a painting that has a minimal palette of colour but has a huge presence. The use of a crisp, white base coat sets the depth of blue off brilliantly.
Its ghost-like qualities seem to appear then disappear as your eye moves around it; this effect is down to the use of blending techniques and the role that negative space has to play (the gaps or voids is a good way to think of negative space).
Keeping things cool
It would be rude not to mention the role of colour here so let’s pick out those deep tropical blues to talk about. All the tones actually stem from a very special blend of metallic paint called Swarez Blue (I have this particular shade made especially for me and is my own formula pigment).
It’s the base from which all the tonal shifts are created. One blue, a thousand different possibilities. It’s a subtlety you don’t instantly get when you see the painting for the first time – it’s an earned surprise the longer you spend with it. And it’s quite remarkable how many interpretations of a single colour blue I’ve managed to eek out of the can!
Conclusion
This blue and white abstract painting is cool, minimal and relies on its spectacular forms to create drama. Absolute Zero is a perfect size for behind a sofa, above a console table or perhaps in a study or light-filled stairwell.
It’s very bright and refreshing so doesn’t need a ton of lights pointing to it; nor does it have the need to face a big source of natural light. It’s perfect where black or grey is the predominant decor.
ADDITONAL INFORMATION
Materials
- Canvas: Polyester 340gsm
- Preparation: One coat of primer, one additional skim coat
- Paints: Enamel paint (5 colours) made to my own recipe
- Frame: 44mm Museum graded floating frame with 8 tensioning corner wedges.
- Hand-stretched and stapled on the reverse
Viewing and Delivery
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VIDEO
This short film of mine celebrates the art of pouring paint.
