MEETING AT THE MAGIC POND - ACRYLIC FIGURES

I have been planning works for proposed shows next year and the first is probably the annual event at GRIMSTON CHURCH NORFOLK. When I first started submitting work here in 2003 it was based on semi-abstract spiritual figure works which I felt was appropriate for a church event, which proved very popular. As the years have gone by I have exhibited other work but found questions were being asked as to why my subject matter had changed. The main reason was lack of time to prepare specific work for Grimston, so finding a few days before and after Christmas I have begun a new series for the 2010 show.

I think I must be linking my church figures and magic garden series, as this first one has people in a spiritual based environment with added plants and flowers. Here is the finished work, created from Liquitex acrylic liquid inks and Finity soft body acrylics on YUPO. Some paint is dragged to create a smooth surface, others added with a brush .

It was great fun developing, and the following image shows how it first moved on from squirted colours dragged down over a 18" x 18" YUPO sheet reds/blues/greens mixing to create quite a dark atmosphere. It reminded me of my THREE WISE MEN in a cave environment I did in 2003 though in warmer colours ........

.... so here I took over the design rather than let it happen and developed areas of colour by adding plants and blooms either side of the pond in the left and right hand side at the front, using my 'printing' technique Here is a close up of the largest figure head and shoulders, very much in the chiaroscuro style of light and dark that is used throughout the painting.
Finally, here is a view of the waterfall leading into the magic pond of the title.

It was great fun getting back to this technique of creating a painting from poured/squirted acrylic paints by just developing what one 'saw' after dragging the colours together. I'm looking forward to number two now.