Wednesday, May 26, 2010

inner voices

Inner Voices, oil & collage on canvas, 40 x 50 cm

and now for something completely different ... (though still a self-portrait)
i needed a break from the rather representational work of late.
i needed a bit a larff about the wailing and gnashing of teeth re aging.
i needed to have a bit of fun.

am now soberly back to depicting the next piece of anguish, promise.

22 comments:

  1. mouths and teeth are a lot of game.
    I like it.

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  2. behind the calm exterior... you said you wanted to have a laugh with this one but it seems to me a loud scream.

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  3. Harry,

    A touch of whimsy mixed with horror? I love the expression and the almost rolling eyes!

    Hope all is well with you!

    Brian

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  4. Good for you. It works well, whimsy and horror and a touch of the burlesque all rolled into one. No hint of aging.

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  5. This is really great. Reminds me of Picasso and Dali - surreal and cubism - all rolled up together - and it works beautifully. I like the collage incorporated into the work without taking it over. You have come up with an outstanding contemporary design. Love it! Congratulations.

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  6. thanks, Laura and Camino.

    well, ok, rahina, maybe a grim laugh :)

    horrified in a whimsical way - love it Brian

    and burlesque ... yes, the show must go on, Elizabeth (the 'aging' is concealed in the brushwork)

    Carolann, you put me in illustrious company, but yes, i think this image popped out after seeing Picasso's 'Weeping Woman' at the NGV in Melbourne last week. And i regard Dali as a realist. It's life itself that is surreal.

    Thanks everybody for your positive responses for i feel i have a bit of a nerve posting a doodle on the web among good artists.

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  7. Hey, your use of color is very powerful. I always think shadows are purple, in your case blue!
    Thanks for stopping over at my place.
    -J

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  8. EXPLENDIDOOOOOOO, WORK
    REALLY YOU ARE a very talented artist
    CONGRATS.
    PAULO

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  9. thanks, Jayne, i much enjoyed your own non-representation use of colour and abstraction in your bricolage.

    though you raise an interesting point about the preferred colour an artist imagines shadows to be (there is not 'rule', of course)

    we know they take their hues from the object surface and the surrounding reflected light ... and what was on the painter's palette (hence remrandt's shadows are all brown - he didn't have blue)

    but what colour are they in our imaginations? or simply what are our own tastes and colour preferences?

    fortunately ever since Vincent over a century ago expressive painters have been free to use colour to represent feelings rather than limit themselves to naturalistic depiction

    so naturally i celebrate that nowadays i can make my shadows any damn color i feel like ... indeed, i was getting a bit worried that in this blog devoted to explorations in expressive mark-making they were getting a bit predictably blue ... must unleash my inner Fauvist a bit more

    or maybe i'm just in a blue season

    thanks for coming by, Jayne

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  10. Olá Paulo. Muito obrigado, bom amigo.

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  11. Your work is so interesting and wonderful!

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  12. thank you so much, Marian.

    I see you have become a professional artist (following a career in education) and therefore am delighted that your experienced eye should find something of interest in my explorations.

    I've added a link to your fine art web site so i and others can enjoy your lovely American landscapes.

    Warm regards, h.

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  13. evocative! a scroll through your blog is a treat for the eyes

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  14. why thank you, Celeste.

    That means a lot coming from someone whose paints with such dash and muscularity - no half measures. Dash, but not slap-dash, instead, skilled, thought-through, dramatic, disciplined energy. I really admire that.

    Thanks for coming by.

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  15. hermoso y fuerte trabajo!!!
    un abrazo y mi admiracion

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  16. Su propio trabajo es tan imaginativa y compuso bellamente. Gracias por venir a visitar y encontrar algo de interés, Juan.

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  17. Good job Harry. That mouth reminds me of Francis Bacon ...

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  18. haha, yes, thank you, Lozzano, you're right ... i think it all goes back to Munch's Scream. Then Bacon also saw a screaming woman with broken glasses in Eisenstein's film, (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Eisenstein_Potemkin_2.jpg), an image that left a lasting impression on him.

    I was hoping my little inner scaream might more wry and look a bit cute in the context :))
    (my Blue Rain back in April painting was an attempt at a more agonising affair).

    Hope your weekend has had a good start. h.

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  19. Makes me feel not to much can do this! I like your art and words!

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  20. thank you Stephanie ... coming from someone so creative, that means a lot to me

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