Midnight Sapphire

Colours and shapes

Midnight Sapphire is a large, rectangular abstract painting that’s created with a selection of blue paints. Added to this is black, aqua green, pink, purple and white.

From the outset this is one of those moody paintings (in a good way) that gives me very intense vibes of movement, growth and richness. What becomes more and more interesting is the role of the black as you spend time with it. If that’s a colour that feels weighty in the first few moments it soon gives way to the bewildering beauty and complexity of the other colours.

The black serves as a foundation point on which the other movements and colours can radiate from – and this is seen in a very dramatic way with a sea of intricate and detailed flows and rivers. I can achieve this effect with clever use of thinners and setting my paint tables at a miniscule incline – meaning that I can force the paint to gradually move downhill, thus creating these valleys and rivers.

It’s not an exact science, and we’re only talking a degree or two, but it’s enough to create some truly dramatic features.

Textures

It’s also worth noting the texture changes in the paints as they lay on the canvas surface. A mixture of high and low points has resulted in some very interesting and wonderfully tactile touch points.

This is most notable in a metallic purple which I’ve used – it’s had a slight emulsifying effect and produced some remarkable islands that rise bove the surrounding areas of paint. Very cool.