Oil Backgrounds

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michael wilson

I am an abstract artist. My medium is oil painting, often painting on primed board. My wife and I live in San Diego, California.

Latest posts by michael wilson (see all)

• JORDAN RIVER - February 5, 2019
• Inspired Art - August 2, 2018
• Waiting for Inspiration - July 31, 2018
• The Bridge between Painting and Photography - July 31, 2018

Oil backgrounds tend to form or establish the theme to an abstract painting.  Here though I use the term ‘theme’ quite broadly, implying that the feeling of the painting is greatly influenced by whatever is occurring behind the forward forms.  Painting oil backgrounds then must be carefully rendered.   By carefully I mean painted with a high degree of sensitivity to how the painting evolves.  The forms will affect the background and the nuances of the background place and establish the forms in the plane.

Recently I have been more willing to nuance the backgrounds to add substance to the more forward forms.  It has been interesting to realize how many subtle background effects can enliven the forward abstract forms.  I have lately experimented with inter-weaving backgrounds with the forms.  This creates a very unique tension on the picture plane and is something I would recommend pursuing.

It was definitely Kandinsky that brought my attention to just how critical and vital the background must become.  His backgrounds were integral to the structure of the painting.  Artists such as Miro and Matisse (generally of his era) did not seem to emphasize their backgrounds with quite the same intentionality.  Quite a few years before Kandinsky we see that Van Gogh rarely made the distinction – his backgrounds typically integrate with  the subject and in a way that is dynamic as if the different planes are sharing an energy field..  Broad, bold strokes are beautiful of course.  My more recent paintings show a shift towards more relationship between background and forward material.  This increased attention, this back and forth relationship adds a pleasant interplay both in design and in color.  Bold strokes are made more vivid in contrast to a nuanced background, especially when that background comes forward to interplay with the forms themselves.