Blog

Leaving aside ABSENCE OF ANGEL to do a quickie to enter into the Doug Moran competition. It s worth $155,000 WOW!! It s going to be  a self portrait . Here s the beginning  . More very soon...

As this is a HEAD painting versus a LOOK AND PUT painting, I stand before the easel and the work really dictates itself.I m working from the top down, (unusually because I normally work in all areas of a painting at the same time ). However the top area has the easy bits that I don t have to think about, as I take the birds from reference books.

The decisions about the curtain colour are a bit more challenging.I am inspired by Rupert Bunnys annunciation painting ANCILLA DOMINI that has a red curtain pulled tight to show the contrast between the backlit centre of the curtain and the part in the shade. Sadly I can t use this device as effectively as my curtain is more folded but I ve decided to stick with the red colour anyway.

Next blog I'll make some decisions about the rest of the textiles suggested in the painting. I've a feeling that blog will be about pattern--in both the textile thrown over the plinth and the carpet on the stairs. Pattern would be a counterpoint to the plain red of the top curtain.

Started a spec painting after buying a long thin canvas.The shape put me in mind of an annunciation painting --you know the virgin and angel with a lily, but I m only considering half an annunciation --the angel half. Maybe in front of a curtain.

Now that I've tried some layouts I'm skipping the angel but keeping the curtain and the lily. I have added birds ---Aussie parrots of course! They pop up in many of my works, as does Jack my cockatoo. (more formally called Endymion).

Perhaps I'll sign off now as I won't be a wordy blogger --my typing is not up to it.

Wait for the next instalment of the "not annunciation" painting. I now have a working title ABSENCE OF ANGEL.

MLJ