The sun: life enabler and warmth provider.
This complex star is far from just an energy mass, so a deeper study of it has revealed a greater understanding of this incredible heavenly body.
It’s a fascinating subject to study. As the closest star to earth we are in a very privileged position of being able to study it closely. It’s the endless amount of data available online that has helped me to create an abstraction of it. At this point you may be forgiven for thinking that the colours aren’t really like our sun at all, but it is only an interpretation rather than a representation. Big difference between the two.
It’s extremes of temperatures are almost unimaginable to us humans and as such it’s violence and majesty should be reflected in an array of colours. I like to think of my colour selection as symbolic of a fiery hell rather than a mass of infinite atomic reactions. That feels better to me as it’s a bit more dramatic. After all, the painting is intended to be that way. In the colour palette I have also chosen to use yellow, gold, purple, black and hints of slate and lime green that probably don’t even have proper names or code numbers.
My aim was to recreate an abstraction of solar flares (coronal mass ejections) and sunspots. I also wanted to put in a reference to the cycles the sun undergoes which can include periods of warming and cooling. I’ve added all these factors to the colour palette and that’s how I conceived the painting.I particularly liked doing the darker areas as this is not something we normally think of when we talk of the sun.
It’s deliberately complex in it’s application techniques too. I’ve really gone to town on the levels of detail in this painting and I think that obsessive attention to recreate the infinitely small really shows in the final composition. It’s insanely deep and if the feedback from my Facebook page is anything to go by it’s got absolutely nothing to do with the sun but has all kinds of other imagery buried within it.
If you’re going to use subject matter like this it’s fundamental to come up with something equally big and dynamic. Let me tell you that as you walk past it in my art gallery it really does feel like it’s giving off a huge amount of warmth. It’s in a spot that’s overhung by the ceiling so it never gets lit from the top; this doesn’t seem to matter though because it radiates from every direction. If that’s the case then I consider myself to have ticked that box well.
But of course it’s entirely subjective and personal. Just because I think it feels like the sun doesn’ mean it will for you. All I want to do is give you a little insight into what made me take on such a painting like this.
Ultimately you’ll need a big wall and space for this to breathe. It needs plenty of open space around it and, ideally, to be lit from above. It’s no slouch when it comes to impact and will demand an audience whenever you walk past it. But don’t let that put you off because it’s also an utterly beautiful piece of art that will captivate and enthrall you as much as it fights and excites you. Go on, live a little. Mustard and yellow and lime are a winning combination of colours. Maybe that’s worth changing your sofa for?
