Monday, May 25, 2009

Bright New Days

Dawning. Oil on stretched canvas, 16x20

If you can believe it, this painting is even brighter in person than is the image that you're seeing. I've tried to match the colors and values three times in Photoshop and twice in iPhoto, and this is the closest I can get.

There's something intensely liberating about these abstracts I've been making. There is the strong pull of the colors themselves - this is a gut-level sensation that has been with me from the instant I picked up a brush. I just love color. Bright color, dark color, color that has no name, I love it all.

Beyond that, I love paint. The smooth, creamy edge of it, the way it layers like icing in the thick spots, and spreads translucent as a dream in the thin spots. I love the way wet paint works into wet paint, announcing its meeting spots in lines and curves of blended colors. I love the way the dry brush whispers color onto the canvas, and the way the palette knife streaks and streams color, controlled and uncontrolled at the same time.

All of this is in landscapes, yes, but in these abstracts, it comes to the very front. It's exciting!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Wow this is great Carrie. I feel energized just looking at it! I also love the azaleas in the previous painting. They just pop being surrounded by the dark foliage.