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
A paintings’ psychology could also be called the theme. There is an intention that should be established going into a painting. In the world of abstract painting where naturalistic forms are not available, an intended theme should be established. This theme will usually come from your own psychology, your personal inner persona.
My uncle who is still painting in his 80’s is working on a new (for him) psychology. No longer abstracts his images now are of specific locations with figures which are identifiable, even to the point of their expressions. It is interesting to see the carry-over from previous work in abstraction. This is notable in the backgrounds he uses which are almost swiped affairs like controlled accidents. After this swiped background dries he comes back with the various figures and forms and a hard line detail. It creates a lyrical painting and there is an established theme to his new work. A fairly precise painting is executed over an imprecise background…this is the psychology or the theme of this new work. Often the figures or the scene depicts a certain mood and this mood has sometimes a sense of ‘longing’. The important thing is that something had been pre-determined or was detected and allowed to unfold as the painting developed. This thematic quality of allowing a painting to develop partially on its own works very well with abstract constructions.
Recent work by myself has begun to explore locations as a theme. My new paintings place the viewer in a specific location and are asked to visit this location and to discover the intended abstraction. By doing this the viewer begins to understand my psychology and begins to get the feel of this particular location or the drama or sense of this location – this exact frame in space. Painting is after all a process of ‘freezing time’ and expressing a composite of feelings into one single visual element. This is different than far more random expressions where composite harmony is more difficult to discern – which is a style of abstract painting which I also enjoy.