This is one painting you really can’t ignore. Several shades of red, splatters of metallic gold and that all-important dash of blue serve up a dynamic yet surprisingly warm original painting
Absolutely insane and I love it.
But in a good way of course! Let’s be honest here, I see everything from a road accident to a Kraken attacking a ship; I see the birth of the cosmos and I see a pulsar. I also think of it as being very patriotic and it reminds me of a firework display.
I think that a well thought out abstract can give you almost endless visual references. Our minds are always searching for a way to attach meaning to things so that we can find our way through the world. My starburst themed paintings seem to offer more angles than most.
The entire painting is created from the centre. The core is the most important part of the painting as it’s the bit that everything else comes from. If that isn’t strong and centered then the rest of it will always be wrestling on the edge of disaster.
Defining a central point is hard when there’s so much paint around. But I succeeded in finding a very small point and stuck to it. One of the main things you’ll notice are the four main red beams that form the basic structure. These are critical in supporting the centre as they are the foundations for creating the forms that are placed around them.
Most noticeable of these are the white applications that lie on all sides of the four main red beams. I have been very careful not to let the darker tones interrupt things here as it would have become far too complicated and fussy. Instead I chose to bring these in gradually as we work outwards.
White is the most critical colour in the entire piece. It’s the tone that dictates all the breathing space. If that were to be too much or too little the whole thing changes and would probably not work as well. White takes the roles of the negative space provider – a principle that helps you focus on the bits you should be looking at.
Everything, you see, has a purpose and a place. Paint is no different. This is what planning does – it allows you to build the structure in your mind without wasting paint.
I used a specially made rig that looks like an octopus having sex with a tree. it’s the only way I can suspend the canvas high enough (and with enough folds) to allow the paint to move outwards from a central point.
Going one step further actually involved me lifting the whole thing up above my head and literally wearing it like a sou’wester! – I’m not joking either. So the effects are created using a few alternative approaches to solving one problem – how to get paint to move from a central point to the outside of the canvas.
Living with it will require a fair bit of space; furthermore it would also benefit form being among a warm palette of colour. However, if your interior scheme is white and grey, or sympathetically adorned with neutrals then this will drop in like a dream.
It is always going to be the centre of attention so make sure there’s nothing else to compete with it. Having said that it’s going to fit in almost anywhere. I can see a games room looking rather splendid with this as its centerpiece or perhaps a double height entrance space where the wow factor is so important.
