Crystal Lights

Crystal Lights is a large, relxed abstract painting created with gentle swirls of paint that interlock and overlap each other. The highlight colours are turquoise, olive green and metallic copper with accents of grey, black and white.

How I created the effects

Beleive it or not, I used a window washing mop as the only tool to paint Crystal Lights. By keeping the extension pole upright I can slowly roate the mophead for circles (moving paint around as I go) or gently move it off its central axis to move paint into other shapes and forms.

As you work around different areas of paint you pick up and put down all kinds of interesting tonal variatons so this technique is great for producing unexpcted colours.

Focal points

With any kind of abstract composition there should always be the idea of a focal point. This is simply a visual hook on which the eye builds the entire piece. You don’t have to have one as there are no rules for this kind of thing.

In this painting I chose the black and copper part. It’s a great anchor point for the painting and one that the rest of the swirls gravitate around. To better demosntrate the effectiveness and importance of this part, try covering it up with your hand and blocking it out as you look at the rest of the painting.

Where could this be hung then?

Anywhere you have space large enough! It’s a fair size is this one so having a reasonably large amount of space around it is important for getting the most out of it.

In my photos I’ve show it in a large dining room with a light colour scheme as well as a large open plan hallway/entrance with a lot of natural light. It can be placed among plants. near to a garden window or bifolds or equally a bedroom wall that’s in need of somehing relaxing, gentle and easy to live with.