It is early 2021 and the world as we know it has changed. I remember when it was possible to decide to fly to Hong Kong tomorrow and buy the tickets today. Travel was easy and the world was there to see and experience. Now we are grounded. But as an artist we have to adjust and move with the times. i can just imagine how difficult it must have been during the world wars and even then artist was creating great art.
Annalie and me came home for December holidays to South Africa to spend some time with the children and grand children and go back to Mauritius at the end of January. But now we are stuck in South Africa due to the difficulties of returning to our home in Mauritius.
I also follow the solutions to ending the spread of Covid closely and are very interested in the vaccination programs. I hope and pray that they will be able to halt the virus and allow the world to get back to normality.
I had to set up a second studio in South Africa. I had to buy a new set of paints . But the first thing I wanted to do was to improve the quality of my canvas. I am now painting on a 510 gram canvas. The new canvas is as thick as a thick curtain. I buy these on a roll. I paint on an unstretched canvas and then stretch it after the painting has dried. This canvas need to be primed and acrylic gesso is applied and then I use a texture paste to get texture on the canvas. I mix in color into the texture paste and the effects are amazing. An artist work is always evolving and so is mine. The new canvases are amazing. Photos can not do the work justice. You need to stand close to the canvas to experience all that is happening on the canvas.
I am studying the works of Turner now and love the way that his work evolved over time. His later work showed great minimalism when he reduced the canvases to the bare minimum of details. He would pick out one or two recognizable shapes and use those as his focal point. His work often started with a watercolor painting done on site and then a larger painting done in the studio using the watercolor as a reference. I cant wait to get out with my watercolors and simplify what I see to use later in the studio. I have noticed that abstract landscapes are the most popular artworks amongst the new interiors. So that is the direction where my work is heading.
I just love working with textures and the abstract mark made with a definite stroke with a large brush or pallet knife. My pallet knifes are getting bigger and they make more distinctive marks. I can see myself painting what I encounter and then making abstractions from that. My work up to now has shown a lot of versatility as an artist because I started off with watercolors and then moved to acrylics and oils. Each medium has its own challenges. I even did some paint pouring the other day to get a feel for what happens when you add something like silicon to acrylic paint to get those interesting cells. I believe I may be able to use that up ahead in a limited way on some abstract canvases. I am developing my own style now that I hope will be recognizable as my style as an artist. And it often means going back to the basics of art. The basics of what makes a good painting.
The idea of luminosity has also fascinated me lately and I want to work a bit more with that in a series of larger paintings. Light passing through coloured liquids etc.
I can just ask you to keep on following me to see how I apply all this new knowledge and develop my own style.
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