March 15, 2012

A New Painting: "Two Textures"

 Two Textures, egg tempera on calfskin parchment, 5 1/2 x 7 in. 


I had a lot of fun working on this painting, and it put me in a silly mood. I'm a little loathe to mention this, but the soundtrack in my head was "The Eggplant That Ate Chicago", one of those comic songs from the 1960s. Now that I've ruined this painting for you...in all seriousness, it was interesting for me to work with these opposing surface textures, one so smooth and shiny, the other rough. I have used texture in recent work, but to a very limited extent as I mainly focus on abstract shapes and light. I like the way the big shiny shape pushes into the space, while "speaking" with the other side through its openings, repeated by an opening of light in shadow at left. Is it possible to put the narrative genie back in the bottle once I've released it?


Two Textures, detail.

8 comments:

  1. a delightful painting, Altoon. that circle sure works like an eye of a fish - plenty of communication in this one.

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    1. Thanks rappel; I'm glad I wasn't off base with this one.

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  2. Beautiful...has such a lush and rich quality...very meditative...

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  3. The colors have an angelic quality for me, making me think of Fra Angelico - very harmonious, with the overtones in the textural details. I like it a lot!

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  4. Thank you, Cynthia and Ravenna. Meditative and angelic, both wonderful qualities.

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  5. Oh heck, now I've got the Eggplant That Ate Chicago in MY head! Wonderful painting. Such a lovely shape. It reminds me (a little) of an arbelos, a shape from geometry of two half-circle arcs inside a larger one, making a shape like a shoemaker's knife(an arbelos in ancient Greek.)

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    1. Thanks, Susan. I looked up arbelos, and though this is not like it, I can see why you were reminding of the curves of that shape.

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  6. Yes, not the same, but like -- those sharp lune-y shapes you get when circles overlap(cutting biscuit dough) or are inside each other but not concentric. In your painting I like particularly the silvery blue and ochre color of the metal piece.It looks like it was fun to paint!

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