"A Variation"

($50.00......6" x6".....Water Soluble Oils on Gessobord)

"A variation is a transformation of an existing image." This also has an application in real life if we consider ourselves or others as an existing image in the process of transformation.

This is my third variation of a hill country scene with a large bluff in the background and green water with reflections and a twig / tree in the foreground. The last time I painted this was on January 9th. The first posting was on December 3rd, 2012, just in case you want to see the progression.

This step by step "morphing" is an excellent way to step gingerly into the world of abstraction. I do believe I could do it one more time and lose even more of the bit of detail that is there. In a "nutshell", abstraction simply means to lose the detail. The color harmonies remain the same (although the bluish gray in the bluff is really a gray in the original) and the general placement of the color notes remain the same. It's the detail and blending that goes away. 

The technique of laying these colors down is a "one shot deal". One swipe of the palette knife...wiping off the knife...another swipe....etc. Trying to touch up anything is totally out of the question. I did use a rocking motion technique to create the relfections by keeping the knife in the same place to avoid over blending.

So I am quite sure that most everyone has enough reference photos to create many abstract pieces. The beauty of doing it this way is that you at least have a reference of what color notes to mix and where to place them on the piece.  And there you have it...just a few more things to think about. 

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.