Living on a Paper Sun

This is a large square painting

And, if it’s ticking your boxes, you’re going to need a pretty big space to hang it in – most likely something open plan. Mentioning this from the beginning is a good idea as it’s only really when you put your tape measure up to the wall (and stretch out 200cm in each direction) that you realize just how much wall space it fills.

So now we’ve established that let’s talk about this gorgeous new painting I have created.

It’s all about the colour

Indeed it is. And for me I have based the whole art work around that amazing sunset orange. It’s rich, warm and embracing and is actually a Pantone® colour I had specially mixed for me.

Orange on its own, however, rarely lends itself to anything memorable so in comes a stampeding palette of complimentary tones; most notably led by cascades of purple and blue (and their derivatives). There are also hints of turquoise, red, pink and lilac.

Creating the halos and auroras

Living On a Paper Sun was painted using my trusted enamel paints and has been subjected to a series of new techniques; most notably that of a rotating centrifuge. It’s an impressive piece of equipment that Adrian has built for me, with a little help from a robotics engineer. You can read all about the processes and about the spin machine on my spin art page.

It allows me to do all kinds of things but at its most fundamental it’s really just a glorified spinning table – albeit a rather large and foreboding one. The hard work is split into a number of different areas, the main one being that the paints don’t travel or mix very well and certainly not at 200rpm. So this is always a problem to overcome.

However, practice makes perfect and I have developed a way of persuading my paints to form these radial, halo-like structures that travel from point to point.

Balancing the painting

Balance can be a difficult thing to achieve. It doesn’t mean that everything should be even, straight or have paint on it – I determine balance as a state of equilibrium that doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable or make you want to grab a paint brush and finish something off!

So even though I have a curved horizon point the painting feels supremely planted. Colours appear and disappear in all kinds of places yet it never feels lopsided or heavy, despite some rather deep paint clustering.

This is a good way to spot decent abstract art – it should have the ability to keep you upright and attentive and make you lose track of your surroundings. If you are drawn to something that drags you into your own tunnel then you’ve hit the appreciation jackpot. Well done! Top job.

Conclusion

If a large square art work is what you’re looking for then consider the warmth that this painting brings. Marvel at its explosive outburst of energy (thanks to those vibrant halos and auras) and then sit back and relax as the calmer tones whisk you off onto that fluffy cloud you’ve always longed for.

That’s just me isn’t it? The cloud thing… Probably too much information.

I’ll get my coat.