Aureole

A little about the painting

Aureole (French word for Halo) is a very large original painting created from a complex series of painted halos. I’ll explain a little more about how these were applied in a few moments. Firstly though, let’s cover the basics.

The painting features colors from all major groups in the spectrum and these have been arranged in a series of circles moving from the inside outwards and back again. The background is a slightly off-white colour and features a creamy colored paint mixed with white.

The canvas has an underpinning of lilac and gold which was applied about two months before the main halos were done. This is mainly down to us needing to build a suitable machine to get the finished circles do behave in the way I wanted.

Applying paint

These halos I refer to are the by product of spinning paint from a rotating platform. The principle involves using a specially designed machine to throw paint as it rotates (see the video below). The technique is quite complex to manage owing to the number of variables that are in play at any one time.

I have to manage to volume of paint placed on the rotating platform, how fast it should travel and for how long and with what attachment (I have pipes of all lengths to choose from).

Using combinations of variables I can alter the way in which paint hits the canvas. in some places the droplets are very fine and regular yet in others they are more scattered and random. Each time though, nature’s forces give me a perfect circle.  On the outer edge you can clearly see a wavy line of paint that was achieved using a long pipe and some very thick paint.

The finished painting

Have I already mentioned that this is a very large canvas? I don’t think I can over emphasize that so you are going to need a pretty big space t hang it in, The textures are absolutely mesmerizing and the sheer volume of paint on this make it quite a thing to stand in front of. The way light bounces off it is remarkable – allowing all the nuances of paint to form personalities of their own.

Then there are the almost infinite blends of color as you move in closer; sometimes these reveal themselves in delicate streaks and stripes and in others they are brutal and unforgiving.

And at all point that underpinning of lilac pokes through to remind you that all things that matter have substance and foundation. And if you hadn’t already noticed then the centre is a crisp and fresh white colour (it’s actually bare canvas). I opted for this as I wanted to leave a part of this painting untouched.

Reason? To promote the feeling of space and nothingness. I like to think of it as the purest of focal points, modestly brought to life by that piercing yellow that surrounds it.