"Watching":
Evolution of a Painting
STAGE 1
I began by selecting images and text
from an old news magazine, then pasted them onto a blank 30"x 40"
canvas. I blocked out large areas in Napthol Red, then superimposed 2 rectangles
of Emerald Green. I scratched in some hieroglyphics while the paint was still
wet.
STAGE 2
Next I adhered some rows of numerals which
I had previously printed out from my computer. I added a further rectangle of
bronze paint at lower left, into which I scratched some shorthand symbols. I
added a Carbon Black stripe at left and emphasized a square top right. I also
scumbled on some thick Titan Buff in the middle section to increase the
contrast.
STAGE 3
I added 2 new pieces of collage: the
circle-in-a-diamond above the figure of the man, and the 4 hands pointing at
lower left. I glazed a thin layer of Cyan Blue over the bottom left and altered
the shape of the green border around the figure of the man to give it a more
mysterious look.
STAGE 4
I colored in the shapes on the 2 new pieces of
collage and darkened the green stripe (I rather regret doing that now.) I added
some scribbling and drawn lines in oil crayon.
CLOSE-UPS
STAGE 5
At this point I have glazed over most of the red with thin layers of Quinachrodone Crimson and Payne's Gray. I got rid of the pointing hands bottom right by a process of déchirage - tearing them off forcefully to give a 'distressed' look to the canvas. I darkened the greens considerably and crayoned in blue over the red and yellow circle above the figure. However, I'm still not happy with the green vertical bar at right, or the heavy green round two sides of the figure. And I don't like the now too-blue diamond above him. Ah well, keep trying ....
Still not quite finished!
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stages of a large canvas, titled "Found Document"
created during February 2001