Night Train

"Night Train" - Acrylic on Canvas - 18" x 24" - 2014

  

I've received a fair amount of feedback regarding this painting, so, I thought I'd post it here and share a little commentary about it. This piece was essentially the result of experimenting with new techniques. Initially, it was intended to be a loose image of an oncoming train at night, but it evolved as I painted it. The entire painting was executed without brushes, only palette knives were used - and perhaps some fingers here and there, but that's not unusual for me. (You can probably find my fingerprints in every one of my paintings.) 

The first happy accident that occurred was the - obvious, I think - skull-like facade of the locomotive. When I first noticed it, it was faint, so I embellished it while staying relatively true to the shadows which naturally might've occurred on the locomotive. I didn't want to overdo it, though I think I may have, in hindsight. Anyway, this visage made the piece all the more unsettling, so, I continued on that vein. I made sure the tracks were off-center, and gave them a slight tilt to boot, in order to counteract their otherwise stabilizing static lines. Additionally, I wanted the train to come from the right to the left, a psychological tension-creating visual trick (common, and more effectiv, in visual narratives like comics) due to Western cultures' natural left-to-right tendencies. You may also notice some other vague images in the piece as well. Some are intentional, most are not.  I added some more bright white to the upper left of the composition and emphasized the light on the train, then balanced it a bit with some dark in the lower right.... Yeah, I'm gonna' stop here, otherwise I'll start getting into a formal analysis of the composition and that's probably dull for most. Y'all can do that yourselves....

What I particularly enjoy about this style is its dreamlike quality. I've noticed that even the images that I think I've "spelled out" for the viewers have been interpreted and seen differently. For example, one friend noticed the train and and was later surprised by the skull, while another saw the skull and overlooked the train. Others see completely different images in the piece first, then come around to the primary ones. Many see things that I never intended to be there. The Rorschach test quality of these paintings is great. It's enjoyable witnessing people getting lost in - or perhaps finding themselves in - the compositions created with this technique.

I'm still pushing ahead with this style, and we'll see where it takes me. The next painting I did, "Scarecrow," is more deliberate, but I'm very fond of it. I'll post it here in a bit, but you can see it now on my Facebook page.  

Thanks for reading!

"pick...."

Hey! Finished this one up a few days ago. Sorry for the delay in posting. I took some detail shots as well....

pick.... - Acrylic and Enamel on Canvas - 36" x 24"

Click the image to enlarge (hopefully - Blogger can be finicky at times).

In these detail shots you can see the 3D effects I achieved through the magic of molding paste.

I actually painted the canvas and mottled "bruising" entirely with my hands and fingers, and used my fingers and palette knives to sculpt the "scab" out of molding paste. It only seemed appropriate that I would use my fingers for a piece titled pick...., and I thought it might grant it a more visceral quality. It certainly made for a more visceral creative experience, and I hope it comes through in the art.

Now I have to get back to work on my Presence series. In considering pick...., however, I find that it may be an interesting complement to the Presence paintings, not only in appearance, but also thematically.... Huh.... More on that stuff in a later post!

Thanks for the interest everyone! Oh, and I may bite the proverbial bullet soon and start a Facebook page to promote my work. All in favor say "Aye." I don't know that it's necessary.....

- Ian