Source of enlightenment
30cm x 30cm (approx. 12” x 12”) acrylic and collage on canvas board
£195 Framed in a slim white wooden frame and ready to hang
Available unframed for £175, prices excluding shipping
— "Olive oil has long symbolized light and knowledge because it was a source of enlightenment" *
This painting started life when I wanted to create a background for an exercise from a course I was taking called experimental still life (FABULOUS course, by the way). There were already some layers of paint and pattern, I added more colour and different textures (see process photos 1 & 2). The shapes sort of popped out at me at this point and it needed to rest for a few weeks, because I knew I liked it too much to use as a background for something else.
When I returned to the painting I did a value study: this involves changing a photo of the painting into black and white (e.g. process photo 6) or using an app that evaluates the colours in the photo and shows them as black, mid-grey and white areas (e.g. process photos 2, 4 & 8). Doing this can help you see the composition - the main shapes - in the painting, and highlight any areas you might want to change (process photos 3 & 4 - I used my phone edit ‘mark up’ feature to change the shapes and check the values again).
On the painting itself I then added some collage papers (process photo 5). I made a few last edits (process photos 6, 7 & 8) to achieve the warm glow of late summer in France, maybe, or Italy? Fin!
The colours are truest in the first two photos - the painting has great depth and richness in real life!