Whispering Grass
£3200
A long original painting with black, grey and gold colours
This isn’t going to be for pastel lovers or those who live a quiet life; Terraformer has a real broody, primeval undertone and a gravity to suit. Strap yourselves in!
£SOLD
250cm x 80cm (98″ x 31″)
All the right ingredients
This is a powerful abstract painting. I make no apologies for that. There are no soft tones, no pastel shades and no bright happy colours.
The painting, however, is not monotonous, dull or aggressive. I don’t even think it sits between twee and depressing either. It occupies its own space and context, somewhere far removed from the kind of expectations that can be placed on abstracts like this.
It’s intense though, I’ll concede to that but it’s an observation that really only scratches the surface of the more fundamental things going on.
As a result of all this solidity you get a feeling of robustness and reassurance with the painting. It’s grittiness and weight could have been hewn from granite whilst the playful cascades of tone and shape barrel-roll, ever forward, in a perpetual state of motion.
Keeping the rhythm going
Whether you see layers of soil and stone or mountainous landscapes peaked with snow there’s no escaping the sense of depth here.
Furthermore, from a technical standpoint, this feeling of depth is achieved by layering small veins of paint on top of each other and forming the shapes as the paint is applied.
Rivers and valleys of paint form and reform over and over again; tiny details spring out at you when you least expect it. But it’s the density of those grey and black shades that gives this painting its natural, primeval rhythm.
Think of the earth forming 14 billion years ago as matter collides into each other. Think of the evolutionary cycle and of molten rock forming mountain ranges. Think giant glaciers the size of continents. Think mass and mightiness.
See where I’m coming from?
Living with the painting
A white or light grey wall will be ideal for Terraformer. Anything stone or metal in the space is going to become instantly connected to it – a real bonus if you’re a lover of slate or stainless steel!
It needs lighting properly too. This is straightforward task – a couple of LED spotlights is all it takes to turn this from a simple ‘wow’ into a ‘Holy Mother of God!’ or words to that effect (I hear this kind of expression on a regular basis from clients and is no exaggeration I assure you).
Don’t let the dark and weighty tones steer you into something light and airy – if you feel that colour would be best left to the kids playroom then give me a call and let’s see what this looks like in your own space. It’s time to stop sitting on the fence – life is a bit short for that…
ADDITONAL INFORMATION
Materials
- Canvas: Polyester 340gsm
- Preparation: One coat of primer, one additional skim coat
- Paints: Enamel paint (5 colours) made to my own recipe
- Frame: 44mm Museum graded floating frame with 8 tensioning corner wedges.
- Hand-stretched and stapled on the reverse
VIDEO
This short film of mine celebrates the art of pouring paint.
