There is no doubt in my mind that age, health, well-being and certainly illness contribute an enormous amount of feeling and emotion into an artwork. Past and present experiences are displayed vividly as portraits of your own mind, expressions of your inner self, sensitivities, pressures….sometimes intense conflicting pressures and frustrations – boiling cauldron like and assaulting every sense of your being.
This is the stage maybe I reach when my condition becomes virtually intolerable and where imagination and reality are mashed together in a vast over-coloured world of noise and pain.
Like so many artists before me whose minds were stretched to the limit in what is often a frustrated maelstrom (many of the great Artists it has to be said) of what is literally mind blowing proportions (and in that respect we are so much a one) I find myself producing artwork more often these days with exagerated colours, heavier and wilder brush strokes and even distortions of image – so much so that at times it can be almost frightening.
To give an example this started off as a simple painting of one of the canals of Amsterdam and whilst it is relatively mild it is certainly darker than my intent. As it progressed it seemed to undergo a subtle transformation quite by itself and became much more intense than my initial intention. It is also quite large – I had not scaled this down for web use (I simply forgot I suppose) and scaled down it loses much of the essence and texture and would be pointless posting it.
In retrospect I painted this on a reasonable day – not one of my “bad” days which shows I suppose.
Anyway do forgive me if a little part of the right side is cut off and you don’t see the entire image – but smaller would simply not do.
Canal
Funny it’s not as dark as it actually is once I see it posted here – And by “dark” I don’t mean that it’s devoid of light but that it has darker “meaning”. I noted just now that the web site uploading software automatically reduced it somewhat – and it does lose something, though as I say it’s not as bad as I first thought anyway.
I suppose that as my latest paintings go this one is probably one of the mildest of what I was talking about previously as my “dark” period and not the best example at all. But no matter as I’m sure that over the next few posts, more intense stuff might just start to appear.
It still maybe does give an indication of the power of transferrence of thought to canvas/screen and how it completely dominates the “art” of painting if you like.
There is little doubt that my usual style – if I actually have one – of slightly Impressionist paintings and drawings are slowly and surely becoming Expressionist as this intensity grows. On a good few of my recent works my family friends have commented and with not too much enthusiasm I have to say that some are really quite “bizzare”, though my artist friends are rather intrigued and tend to call these “Abstract Expressionism” – which I suppose they truly are becoming.
Where the emotion overtakes the visual subject and the image seen before one is lost in a flood river of impressions, noise, colours and intense emotional angst – what goes on to the canvas or screen is the emotional mind of the artist laid bare for all to see – but of course completely NOT understood by the viewer – how can it be?
Indeed I laugh at those so called Art critics who wax lyrical at the often bizarre and convulsive brush strokes of the abstract expressionist. The Artist is baring his soul on the canvas and they in their arrogance have the audacity to “explain” this Art – Art that in their wildest dreams they simply don’t have the imagination to comprehend let alone speak commentary.
And that’s the problem – the art at this stage becomes a “private” outpouring and I wonder – should it really be on display at all?
It’s often said that art is in the eye of the beholder.
I have to disagree – it is in the eye of the Artist – alone.
Next post I might – might upload an image done when suffering one of my “bad days” – But they always end up so “personal” that I’m really not sure if I should – Maybe instead I’ll put up that nice little watercolour sketch I did of a peaceful scene on the Baltic coast – a sort of retro thing, reminiscent of days gone by – better days too………………..yes that might be better.
