Seven Traces Visual Art Festival comes to Caernarfon

The nomadic visual art fair is taking place in Caernarfon at the moment. My work synchronicity banner can be seen at the the Institwt, Penrallt. The work builds on previous projects that have used external banner format and the methodology of combining bars of colour to create a chromatic identity.

For full conceptual details on the festival, artists and workshop information click here to transfer to the website

LLAWN02 – The Presence Of Absence – final post

The final painting went on show in the empty and atmospheric setting of the Tudno Castle Hotel, Llandudno united with the pewter plate along with 9 other artworks and objects.
Culture Colony with curator Marc Rees made a film of all the artists and this can be viewed here:
Culture Colony Llawn02 Nine Artists and their Objects

LLAWN02 – The Presence Of Absence – post eight

 The E shape from Cranbourne is a light green; I like the challenge of having the lighter colours making the exterior shape and having to work with the heavier middle colours – it forces a different kind of space. I am building up the ‘pavement’ areas remembering the idea of the sloping camber on the grey slate slabs around the square. I want to get that idea of shifting uneven space; the dark red arm in the centre reaches in to accentuate this. Now the yellow, fluorescent yellow, is applied below the shadow of the plate. This creates a strong tonal contrast here – the shadow a deep blue-red almost black-like, and this strong contrast emphasis the main form. I am thinking again about the centre of the plate – there is so much opportunity for more compositional elements here; it is good to be thinking of painters like Juan Gris and how they described form in such an original way. Some elements will be left out, I don't want to have all the answers in the painting; what is not there is part of the end experience. There is much sharpening of the colour areas to do. Where one area meets another is crucially important to the authenticity of the painting. The next post will be the final stage. Before this the painting will go to Llawn 02 to find the pewter plate.

LLAWN02 – The Presence Of Absence – post seven

The plate form has developed with a range of greys and dry brush pulled around the imaginary rim of the plate. I have central section of the plate, the inner ellipse-plane as an area for compositional elements rather than a flat surface. The red zig-zig is able to run through it with an illusion of interlocking transparency. This seemed in painting to create another form to the left and an excuse for a further green mark replicating the swerve of the ellipse. I am also building up the colour areas, reinforcing transparent and semi transparent colours like red.

LLAWN02 – The Presence Of Absence – post six

In working with the plate form it has to fit with the support shape on the right and not extend over the edge of the left side; this would compromise the integrity of the idea.

When painting this I am thinking about Patrick Caulfield. It is great to be revisiting an object form that is really quite descriptive. One of the things I like about Caulfield is the austerity of form. On the one hand familiar everyday 70’s and 80’s interiors and still life but they have a real distance about them. I am not sure how this is achieved but the strong flat areas of colour in both the form, shadow and surround will be part of the answer.

LLAWN02 – The Presence Of Absence – post five

In working with the painting I have decided to keep the pewter plate as one form with its complete ellipse. This makes the form more complete somehow and breaking it would seem contrived and really be a fudge – avoiding the complexity of creating a convincing plate form in paint. Of course, the integration of the form with the overall composition is another question. This will be achieved through colour areas emphasising the imagined shadows or tonal effect and by having a transparent dimension to the form to allow interlocking and compositional elements to flow across the painting. The strong diagonal form from top left to centre right will run through the bottom of the plate form – at least to start with.

LLAWN02 – The Presence Of Absence – post four

The support for my painting is medium density fibreboard. I am making a shaped support cut (drawn) with the jigsaw to include imagined elements of the planned painting. The main feature of this work is, of course, the pewter plate and I want this to define its own edge on one side of the painting. To this end, two thirds of the way down the right side, the ellipse-plate-form will define the side. I had to cut with a jigsaw the curved edge of the plate with quite a sharp bend as is seen on a 30 degree angle. The plate is also not to be on a horizontal plane to increase the dynamic.

After acrylic priming the painting is now started. I am not sure whether to include a complete pewter plate on an angle or have it fragmented and in two interlocking halves; this may give it a greater dynamic. The colours are used from the digital research previously described and using a limited range of system 3 acrylic paints.