(Completed re-working foreground 9/2023--no longer muddy under any lighting situation. I feel like I can breathe when looking at it now.)
(7/2023 Determined to be too dark and muddy in the foreground in some lights, so re-worked.)
(I've decided this painting is unresolved and am working on it still)
24"x12" mixed media with acrylic on canvas (and detail photo)
I was still experimenting with texturing media here, trying to decide to purchase more gesso or more gel, so, for this one, I mixed gesso with lightweight spackle, applied it to the canvas and used mark-making tools. After letting it dry, I was concerned that, since I had used so much spackle, the surface would be too absorbent and would crumble if I used a lot of water in my painting process, which I sometimes do. So I decided to cover the surface with gesso and applied it with a fake chamois cloth in order to avoid brush strokes on the surface. The result of adding a dark layer of paint first shows in the detail photo--an effect I rather like--the dark with the lighter colors applied on the top.
The other idea I was playing with in this composition was the idea of vertical text on the left side of the painting--painted blue green. Whether it translates as text to the view or not would depend upon the viewer's experience with Asian art, maybe. Or I suppose it could be seen as some part of the structure or a form in the background. I was curious about the interaction between the forms above and a bit to the right of the staircase-like structure (there are so often stairs). And that was the impetus for the title. Are we going up together or down together, or are the above and the below forms crossing paths as they move from one plane to the other? Is strength being transmitted from one form to the other? Is this communicating tension?
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