In Another Castle

Further studies in incorporating the figure into an abstract composition. This is done on black paper which can give some of the brighter colors–especially the reds–a glowing effect. I have always liked those posters with the drawings of the girls with crazy flowing hair. You know the ones I mean? Anyway, I watched a documentary on Kandinsky last night and he made some paintings in which he cut the composition in half with a line that went from the top to the bottom of the canvas with different things on either side, and so I thought, hey why don’t I try something like that? I was bolstered by the fact that man of Kandinsky’s earlier works were not really very good. That’s one nice thing about learning about most of these famous old artists, their early stuff is generally not great and so it lets you feel like you can make a bunch of crappy work and still have the option of like one day producing great work.

I think this is getting somewhere. I may have to switch back to oils soon, as I think I am making the pastels do things they would rather not do.