The industrial wall – part two

One never knows how a painting is going to turn out until it has been completed, especially when it is of an abstract genre and painted over a period of weeks.

No matter how much careful planning one does, there is always the unknown or the voice of intuition that changes the direction of what was originally intended. Of course there is also the unintentional accident that can have a major influence in the direction that one is heading, including the final outcome of the paintings appearance. Another element one must to take into account is the fear of failure for it is a powerful distraction, even with my previous found confidence in which I succeeded in accomplishing what was mentally envisioned.

What I have learned technically from this painting can now be apply towards the next one, with the understanding there are no guarantees that the results will be as before. Painting is not a formula of steps with predictable results and in many ways this makes multi-medium painting a challenge as well as an exciting undertaking.

Each abstract painting I ever painted had its unique challenges and Industrial Wall — Flint Ink, version two, certainly was no different. Mixing a variety of acrylic products in order to achieve certain textures was new territory. When working as a multi-medium artist, I feel like an alchemist of the Middle Ages trying to turn iron into gold and in many ways today’s multi-medium processes are no different from when artists had to grind their own colours.

As the painting Industrial Wall — Flint Ink passed the half way mark, I took a chance of using a household spray paint containing a foreign element that gave it a fine raised surface texture. I was very apprehensive using this product but after spraying a single burst on the canvas, I was delighted, for it had provided the very thing I desired but had not attained until that moment.

The next step was to make sure to apply the spray sparsely and give it the unintentional accident look that gives it the appearance I saw the day I visited the Flint Ink plant. Because of that one burst from a spray can, the painting had taken another turn, allowing further applications of acrylic materials for a greater depth of texture and detail.

Last Wednesday the painting was finished off with a three layers Manganese Blue Nova colour with Liquin glaze, with the last two glazes being only over portions of the painting so that it resembles an external light source.

Industrial Wall — Flint Ink, version #2

Multi-medium combine on canvas, 36 x 48 inch (91.44 x 121.92 cm)

Yesterday I added the final touches, the shipping label, as it was previously tucked in under the wood temporarily and since it was rather fragile, an index card was added to the back with an additional layer of extra heavy gel medium for support and giving it a slight curvature in a permanent hold. The original nail was returned to its previous location and some twine saved from a package was secured to it along with a Sharpie pen.

In the end the painting came into its own, different from the photograph it was based upon, even though numerous elements in its makeup are also found in the photograph, the canvas underwent several evolutions to arrive at its final state. A little planned, a dash of the unexpected, a pinch of the unintentional accident, a twist of fear, and a good dosage of trust in ones own vision and ability.

In the end you have to trust in yourself, your ability and your intuition.

Fear of failure despite a new found confidence

Revisiting the past is a melancholy affair. A journey taken not lightly for it can be filled with a gambit of emotions, as I look over a number of photographs taken in 2005. Images reflecting a time when I hiked the hills behind our house. Exploring the early morning light as it filtered through the California oak trees, gracing the spring growth with its pale amber light, these photographs marked a time in my life that will not be repeated soon, since the focus has shifted to painting.




The last several days I have meant to write and update the progress of the Abstract Realism painting ‘Industrial Wall — Flint Ink’, considering significant progress had been made, not only with version two, featured earlier this month on this blog, but version one was completed this last Sunday.


Both versions are based on the same photograph with key differences between the two. I had planned early on the idea of two versions, considering both paintings were going to be an experiment in regards to the combinations of materials used, one painting (version #1) will be offered for sale and version two with the ‘combine’ materials would be part of the van Dyck Trust collection.


So this weekend the final touches, an oil-based glaze with Liquin was applied over the entire canvas, with a second coat within in the hour, only over portions of the canvas so that there would be the illusion of different light sources.


A third coat using the same percentages of Liquin to Manganese Blue Nova oil paint was once again applied to only portions of the canvas in order to strengthen specific areas and the following day under cool early morning light the decision was made that this painting was finished. Now I am faced with the decision if this glaze application should also be added to the other canvas, especially since I had planned it in the first place.


The decision came quickly when I accidentally came across the finished painting in perfect light and saw that the intent was captured after all. So once I have photographed version two in its present stage, I can move ahead and bring another painting to completion.


Though I have found success with one painting, there is still the lingering fear of failure until the other painting has the same outcome and when I manage to have a satisfactory result, I will have learned from the process but fear of failure remains strong despite my newfound confidence.


As we bring another month to a close like a chapter in a book, we begin anew another, like the path before us, one often traveled but never the same twice, I will seek inspiration in familiar places, all the while discovering new ones.

The industrial wall - part one

Before my semester of Modern and Contemporary Art History class came to an end at Diablo Valley College, Professor Michael Lawrence, our instructor had ask me a month earlier if I wanted to give a presentation regarding my art. I felt this would be a good first run considering a few months later I am scheduled to give a presentation to the members and guests of the East Bay Artists Guild.

Deciding to focus on photography, specifically my abstract images and how I go about seeking my subject matter.

Back home I combed through some twenty-five thousand images, when I came across one taken at an industrial site that had shut down and at that time the building underwent an environmental cleanup.

Having entered through the back entrance unseen, I had managed to set up my tripod, capture a dozen or so images inside before being discovered and having to leave the premises. Now four years later, one of these images from the Flint Ink plant I selected for the lecture captured my imagination; especially since just a week earlier I coined the term Abstract Realism in regards to my work.

Impulse got the better of me and during the preparations for the class presentation I just had to start the painting by giving it first several applications of gesso, this was followed with three layers of silver foil and a coat of sealer.

Several weeks would pass before any progress on the painting would continue as I had to work out numerous technical challenges, especially as I was entering new unexplored territories as to the materials I had not used previously, especially when one considers my goal was to recreate a photograph onto a 36 x 48 inch (91.44 x 121.92 cm) canvas.

Though I had previously used found objects or textured materials in a painting, I was now embarking on using commercially produced acrylic texture materials to visually establish the richness that took years to build up through accident or on purpose.

After lengthy contemplation the decisive moment arrived or the painting would remain unfinished and so the first layers of texture was applied to the canvas. Since then the painting has progressed through numerous changes but remains still unfinished, requiring a final coat or two of a glaze using oil paint mixed with Liquin to give the illusion of a light source striking the industrial wall.

Each step undertaken was a calculated experiment, though still a risk and any wrong move would alter the painting into something other than intended and at worst ruin what each step has achieved.

Fear is an element we all face in varying degrees and in the creation of art it can be very destructive, keeping us from not only achieving our potential but also from producing a work of significant importance in the growth as artist. Yet fear can also be a positive thing, by keeping any over confidence in check, since too much self-confidence can be just as destructive as fear.

With the painting a little more than half completed I tried out the shipping label, loosely nudging it between canvas and the piece of wood in order to see how it looked.


When I originally discovered the label I just fell in love with its imperfect quality and since the painting needed some bright snappy colour and a focal point to draw attention to the hand written notes still to be added.

This painting has taken six weeks to get to were it is at now and it might take another fourteen days before this canvas can be considered a finished painting.

To be continued . . .