The work I finished this morning and delivered to Arts Space Wodonga after teaching was developed at an intense rate over the last period since I did the last entry for this blog.
The intensity of the green in the current landscape was too much to deal with in the panoramas - I had to subvert the green to be able to get on with the paintings. So I took the first two panoramas back to a textured surface and started again.
Using a photographic resource I continually battle with the cultural authority of the photographic 'truth'. It's a construction like any other composition but the amount of information in a photograph is powerful and has an authority.
I tackled the conundrum between using information gleaned from the photo and making a painting that was paint first and information second. I solved the problem one Saturday morning by literally flinging lots of lovely red paint at the canvas and starting whole new works.
By eliminating the colour references I was able to 'draw' what I needed to depict in several tones of red from dark Rose Madder Deep through Napthol Crimson and Quinacridone Red to reliable Cadmium Red and Napthol Scarlet. Such wonderful colours. What I ended up with was the basis of a red tonal structure to which I could add information gleaned from the photographic reference without losing the sense of a painted work that had a metaphoric potential.
The idea of the paintings is that our regional centre of Albury Wodonga is literally encircled and cradled by wonderful hills and landforms such as Table Top.
Two of the views are looking south and south west from Eastern Hill to Wodonga. The hills around Wodonga are so familiar to me that when driving north from Melbourne I always know when I am 'close to home' when I see the start of the hills south west of Wodonga.
Looking south and south west to Wodonga
From Eastern Hill looking west across the city to Monument Hill
The next view looks west from Eastern Hill to the Monument at the top of the hill above Dean Street. This 'rocket' monument, as my daughter referred to it when a little girl, is actually a wonderful example of an Art Deco memorial sculpture and is the largest monument to WW1 in the country.
From east of the city one realises how encircled it is by the higher Nail Can Hill and the range of hills that lope westwards towards Splitters Creek.
The view north from Eastern Hill takes in a foreshortened view over the airport to Red Light Hill and north to Table Top.
These are paintings with I hope, loose brush work, which come together as an image from a distance - using the good old principle of optical mixing!
I've never really understood the relief some viewers express when having stepped back from a painting they are reassured by the way everything comes together.
When I look at a painting I want to be close to the action on the canvas!
To see where the hand of the artist has been - the hand that probably has been gone for a good while but the evidence of the hand and the vitality and the energy remains.
The photos I have taken will be replaced by better ones - these I took in the studio under available light.
Next post will show the 40 tree paintings I've done to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the growth centre of Albury Wodonga.
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