190cm x 100cm (75″ x 39″)
The Carrington Event is large sized abstract painting that’s named after the largest geomagnetic storm that has ever been recorded on earth. It was quite an event, but then this is quite the painting. The name fits perfectly as you let your eyes feast upon the melee of activity in the centre of the canvas. Imagine all those photons being spewed out from the sun in an enormous Coronal Mass Ejection.
This rowdy storm of chaos is perfectly tempered by the gentle sway of the swoops that sit behind. I like this blend of opposites as each exists to stand against the other and it’s this principle that allows you to notice both at the same time.
The painting comprises of two layers. The base is a series of blue and purple swoops with a little magenta and gold woven in for good measure. On top of this layer is a sequence of paint throws that made use of a few spoons and spatulas to deliver the paint to the canvas surface.
I chose to lay these upon each other in fairly quick succession to help fuse everything together. The aim here as to keep the central mass as a complete coherent unit, rather than letting layers of paint sit atop one another. What this has done is create some spellbinding effects where different densities if paint have crossed over each other and formed some unique rivers and trails.
The top segment also features lime green and metallic copper to add a little contrast. Finally, the inclusion of cream and white bring a little lightness to the painting and have both been allowed to fuse themselves with other colours – this has a great effect on altering the tonal qualities of the paints and helps to broaden the spectrum of colours you can see.
Overdrive
