I promise to take you to Paris later. For now, think about the operation of your eyes and brain. Your brain collects the eyeball’s data for shape, color and motion at different speeds. It correlates them to create an image for you. This takes time. It’s fast but, it takes time. Turner was among the first to exploit the sensation of motion in paint. He watched his world appear to speed up with the industrial revolution, steam ships and steam railways. Motion wasn’t a new sensation; wind, weather, birds and arrows had previously appeared as speeding blurs to us. Few artists were tried capturing this motion in paint. Velazquez was the first with his blurring spinning wheel. Turner included the entire visual field in his evocation of motion, of speed. Consider his work in example 1, “Rain, Steam and Speed” painted in 1844. It’s about 30″x40″.
example 1. “Rain, Steam, and Speed.”
example 2. detail of “Rain, Steam and Speed.”
In the detail section you see how he smeared the paint; blurred it to create a sensation of fast weather and a fast train. So little is tied to precisely focused information.
I will start slowly and gather speed with my images here. Example 3 is a photo of a quiet Connecticut stream in January. The photo presents large areas in sharp focus. The feeling is slow to the point of stasis. I manipulated the image in Photoshop to create a faster evocation of the scene. I used this manipulated image to inspire the painting you see in example 4. The colors are brighter and they are stretched horizontally. Focus appears to dissolve.
example 3. Photo of a winter stream.
example 4. Painting of stream with speed in mind.
Next, let’s consider how to make an image appear slower after a fast start. I begin with example 5 as my lay-in or first step. The image has no edges or discrete information. It appears to have more motion than in example 6 which step two of the same painting but, developed with more precise edges and articulated textures.
example 5. step one with more motion.
example 6. step 2, less motion with more detail.
Next, let’s look at figures in the landscape. Example 7 has more delineated figures but, a blurry background. This painting has more in common with Turner’s work. His background is more dissolved while the train has more defined areas.
example 7. figures in slower motion.
Figures can evoke more motion not only if they are blurred but also, if their background appears to have directional movement. Example 8 begins with the background, a printed/woven fabric which will subtly assert itself throughout the painting. Example 9 presents the image painted on the fabric. The fabric has nuanced undulations which were created during the stretching over the framework. These undulations give quiet dance movements to the space.
example 8. the fabric background.
example 9. painting on the same fabric.
The design can also impart a sense of motion as well as the blurring forms. Example 10 presents an architectural design which moves with rapid foreshortening into the distance.
example 10. Design for motion.
Finally, Let’s go to Paris. In December as I walked the Parisian streets near the Pont D’Alma I snapped the traffic and architecture searching for flavors of Paris. Example 11 is an example of one of those photographs. Example 12 is the result of Photoshop manipulations of that photograph. I recalled my sense of the fast traffic, the colored lights in the cafes, the rounded edges on the buildings. Example 13 is an oil on paper which took ideas from example 12. Using a different image I created example 14 which amplifies the color still further with the help of the brushed silver anodized aluminum substrate.
example 11. step 1,the photograph.
example 12.step 2, after Photoshop changes.
example 13. step 3, the oil on paper painting.
example 14. an oil on brushed silver surface.
You are invited to the exhibition of Max Dunlop and David Dunlop collaborative paintings which opens at the Watershed Gallery on Saturday, January 31 at 23 Governor Street, Ridgefield Ct. 203-483-4387
Frank Lawler
Hi David, I really liked examples #13 and #14 for their bursts of light, they are very different from each other (in my view) with #13 being very etherial and #14 more solid and rooted, both are excellent examples of the style of painting I am struggling to produce with acrylics on canvas…Thank you so much for sharing.
Raquel
Good morning David, We enjoy every example on your blog. We
thank you for allow us to learn, appreciate and care more for
something we love. My question is: When are you coming to
Fort Lauderdale or Hollywood, FL? I am sure you will make us
really happy.
Gail Ingis
Once again David, your talents have brought #12, 13 and 14, a Paris never known before. Congratulations and thank you for passing on your great observations.