Terra

Terra is a large, square abstract painting created with an Earth theme. I took inspiration from the natural world and used it to shape a series of complex rotational paint applications into a serene, relaxed and delicate original artwork.

Natural things

The basis for those beautiful shapes is a blended background layer of blue (two shades) and white. These form a series of cloud-like structures on which to build the main shapes and details.

Choosing colours is the next task so I went with a complementary, natural palette of warm ocean blue, soft turquoise, bright yellow gold and a hint of dusky orange. There are just enough suggestions of sunlight, ocean currents, land masses and weather systems to satisfy your brain that this is like looking at the earth from an aerial photograph.

The gold element

Of course, gold is an element created when the earth id all those billions of years ago, so it seems befitting to bring that into the painting and in a calm yet noticeable way. I achieved this by fusing other colours into it so as to diffuse its impact whilst still retaining the natural shimmering properties of the paint.

What you get is all the rich, caramel-like depth to the gold but muted into a more realistic and subtle way. This, for me, is much more in keeping with the overall feel of the painting. The last thing I wanted was to get loud and abrasive with the gold elements. And whilst this is normally a standard for me, on this occasion that more considered approach has paid off in spectacular fashion.

A quick look at the close-up photos shows you how the gold has blended with the colours to create a velvety tonal shift throughout the greens to blues.

Where can it be hung?

This painting would suit a dining room, open plan hallway or living space, home office or guest room. As it’s a square it can be rotated in any orientation and as I sign it on the reverse you won’t have any problem finsing a way that works best.