Elesym IV.

This piece may be 4th in the 'Elesym' series, but I feel as though it really started the next lot of paintings. It was where my work really began to succeed, I think so anyway and I definitely received more comments that are positive after painting it.

You will notice that this painting is not just canvas stapled to the wall and worked on, my friend gave me some stretchers that he no longer wanted, so I decided why not change it up a bit. I worked straight on to the primed canvas that was already on there, this way it was not going to be as perfectly ready to paint on, as I would usually work. The colours I have used are very similar to a painting I did back in high school, which still appeal to me, It was mainly the blue metallic paint, because who does not like shiny things… I suppose that says something about me.

Many people have said to me that the red outlined disk, if you stand a certain way, looks as though it is coming out from the surface. Obviously, I meant to do that – haha! I guess that was the best achievement of the painting. On the other hand, a tutor (one who does not teach me for studio practise) told me I paint wrong. Not a great thing to say to someone who is still trying to find their way and needless to say it annoyed me greatly. He is of course entitled to his opinion, but wording it better would have been a better option. According to him, my lines of the circle were not perfect enough, or not imperfect enough to appear as if they were meant to be that way AND the technique for the metallic blue was not painterly enough, if that makes sense. Yup, thanks.

Of course I did not have an answer for why it was that way at the time, he court me by surprise and I had no idea what to say. Then you know how it is when you think of a comeback after the moment? That happened to me the next day. I decided if I wanted it to be how he said then I would have made it that way. The metallic blue paint to me looks as though there is quite a bit of paint on there and makes you want to touch it. However, when you do, you are disappointed, as the surface is rather flat (I am not sure if I should work further with this notion…). Also, in reply to the lines, it is a painting. If I had wanted it to be absolutely flawless, I would have used a different medium. His comments made me think about my work, clearly that is a useful thing. Nevertheless, it was a time when I needed help with my dissertation proposal, not how I use paint.

Rant over.