Sometimes I’ll allow infatuations to run their course. In the painting above, ultramarine blue was it.
I don’t remember the first version but it needed the kaput treatment pronto. Obliteration is usually via white gesso but due to my recent experiments with the Matisse brand of coloured gesso, I chose ‘Capitol Blue’* to provide the blanking function this time.
*It’s surprisingly vibrant and close to ultramarine blue in colour.
Version two comprised the same experiment: White over blue. This time the brushwork was more “curly”. I watched it for a week and knew it needed releasing. What this time? There were playful aspects but it looked like tangled globular pustules and lacked “tension”.
Version three included black and orange. Felt constipated. Kaput.
So to this (v4). It’s at least (for me) fresh and unconstipated. It is certainly inspired by Tony Tuckson’s later work (though I wasn’t trying to “do” a Tuckson). It also might be a riff on my ponderings of Adi Da’s statement: “Consciousness itself is the space of things”.
Or, it might just be me feeling bored and wanting to see something different.
I would likely need to paint one thousand of these before feeling like I’m getting close to ‘something’ REALLY authentic.