‘Andromeda’
is a wonderful leap into the cosmos featuring intricate details and a stunning colour palette
150cm x 150cm (59″ x 59″)
Caliban’s Dream
£1700
‘Andromeda’
About the painting
Andromeda is a blue and green coloured abstract painting created with a series of stripes and lines. The colour choice is sublime and one I absolutely adore. There is also the inclusion of a light purple as well as sunset yellow and hints of black and white too. I think there’s also a hint of aquamarine (or do you call it teal?).
The colours play a critical role in the success of the painting but so do the lines they form – with equal importance. It is these two factors that make up the entire piece and neither can exist without the other. It is something I am very aware of when I set out to create a stripes (lines) artwork as they are probably the most difficult to get right.
An unexpected creation
Over the years we have experimented with all kinds of ways to create effects and finishes that often require some ingenious solutions. In this piece I wanted to see if putting a ridge in the centre of the canvas affected the overall structure of the stripes and if so, what that would do as the paint falls away due to gravity.
To put this into context I inserted a piece of plastic guttering underneath the center of the canvas before I began painting it – so think of it like a roof if you want a visual reference. The paint was poured from each side to the other on my tilt/pan table so that I could work from both sides. The aim here was to get the paint to go over the hump and down the other side.
Having never used a set up like this before I only had my intuition to work from so I carefully began painting until I reached a point where I was happy enough with the stripes to leave it and let physics sort out the rest. You can see exactly what i mean by watching the video below because we filmed the whole thing on a live stream from the studio.
What a finish!
The end result is utterly mesmerizing and one I can barely take my eyes off! In many respects it reminds me of a series of mountain ranges interspersed with cloud structures and mist. But perhaps the most compelling visual reference, in my own opinion, is that of giant storms like you would see on Jupiter or similar planetoid where chemical gases create the most spectacular atmospheric wonders.
Towards the edges you’ll notice the swirls and movements become more pronounced and that continues back and forth along the lines until you reach the opposing side. Along the way you find tiny swirls and blends that form some intricate and almost poetic nuances of tone. There’s never any standing still here – the lines always feel as if they are forming and reforming in front of my eyes.
And, as if that wasn’t enough, you also get the textural elements where paint has gathered to form thick rivers; this catches and reflects light in the most incredible ways to make it look as if the painting is some kind of liquid that’s miraculously being held in shape on a vertical surface!
It really is that good…
