"Colour Day"--Notes on a Painting
The above painting is among the works I shall print via my Indiegogo campaign, Prints by Allen: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/prints-by-allen/x/13437036#/. My approach to painting from the beginning centered on putting colour on paper. Need it be more complicated than that? And while I like how abstracted colours and shapes speak, I am drawn to simple representational scenes.
Arts therapy provides a tool called Person-House-Tree. The therapist asks the client to draw a picture with those three elements. How the client relates to those elements, how these elements relate in the client's picture, can be revealing or instructive. It is not a matter of control but of acceptance of the results.
I do not approach painting as a therapy tho I think it reasonable to believe that every artist in all media finds a compelling logic to their effort. In “Colour Day”, I have made a basic autumn scene. Sun is bright, sky is varied and the vegetative greens mix with reds and oranges. The signs are there if not the careful lines.
I may have started with the bright yellow sun or gradient blue sky. I see something in the painting and it becomes a vision. I mean it's a sight, a sighting. Addition of warm colours in the green area and a sense of autumn appears. It is not for me to overthink things. The best I can do is get out of the way and let the process happen.
Please contribute to my Indiegogo campaign, Prints by Allen.