Sunday, January 11, 2015

Dragonfly

After finishing a very large painting like Movie, I usually follow with a small painting.

Dragonfly
1/2" x 3 1/4"     oil on linen     2014
Private Collection, Florida

This painting of an encounter with a dragonfly is based on real experience; there's a small brook by my studio and in the summer the yard is graced with these beautiful insects, darting and hovering. 

Compositions that appear simple on the surface, with only a few elements, are often more challenging to paint than one would think, and this one proved very interesting - balancing the weight of the woman's figure with the lightness of the dragonfly. The color arrangement is a harmony of complementary hues: the warm notes of the woman's face, hair, and hand set against the cool blues and greens of the sky, water, and her dress. That hopefully creates luminosity while another relationship - the triangle of her eyes, lips, and the dragonfly - creates energy.  

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quotes

"There is more power in telling little than in telling all."
- Mark Rothko

“The mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meanings are unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown.”
- Magritte

"Now, the idea is to get everything right -- it's not just color or form or space or line -- it's everything all at once."
- Richard Diebenkorn