Recently, I’ve been going back into my old paintings. Before making any final decisions, I examine each painting and compare them to some of the newer paintings I did this past year. I noticed a huge improvement and change. The older paintings had their potential and key aspects but they were not anything too special to me especially compared to the newer paintings. I feel more of a connection with my newer paintings compared to my older paintings, which drove me to paint over my older paintings.
I specifically want to focus on this painting:
Mixed Media Piece: Oil, Acrylic, Pen, India Ink 16 x 20
Unfortunately, I do not have a title for this piece yet but my subject matter is pain. I was having a rough week and my way of dealing with the week was turning to painting. I knew from the beginning I wanted to work with reds and pinks. A majority of the colors shown are mixtures of the different pinks and reds with black or white added. When I paint that is the biggest thing I always experiment with; I love mixing different colors together to see what I get! I painted the background first and was very pleased because some of the features from the previous painting showed through. It is a bit evident in the picture shown above (right side) but can be seen better in person. I used oil paint for the original painting and applied it for an impasto (paint applied thickly) look so when I went over the oil with acrylic paint it still showed through which I anticipated. I then penciled in the thick lines all at random and used colors from the background to highlight the thick lines. I then added the black pen cracked lines to represent the idea of being broken which lead me to add the black India Ink splats to emphasize being broken.
This piece is my way of representing “being broken” in an abstract way. I see this piece as an internal look at a someone’s heart or soul being taking over by something that is unwanted, something that is not necessary good. It is not completely taken over by the “unwanted” or “bad” because if that was the case this painting would be completely black, there is light, there is hope.
Overall, I am very content with this piece. I expressed a part of myself that I normally do not express. This is another piece that reminds me art heals. A reminder that art is my happiness, my escape, and my passion.
