Step By Step In Grand Central Station

For Poussin in the 17th Century, his design principles rested in the tension of  perpendiculars. For Da Vinci,  his designs often relied upon organizing triangles.  Here is a step by step application of those two basic design systems employed together in one painting with Grand Central Station as the subject.   For Poussin and Da Vinci the human figure was a fundamental aspect of painting.  In their respective epochs no artist was free to paint figureless landscapes or interiors. The figure occupied most of their artistic education. The figure was the noble pursuit, the worthy goal, which was the enlivening, moralizing, emotional force in painting and sculpture.  Today, figurative work in photography, sculpture, painting and performance works has again captured the attention of the art stage and market.  In the 1970’s, 80’s and most of the 90’s  figurative works were less  desired in the contemporary market.   I recall so many contemporary galleries saying they were not looking at figurative artists then.  It was a temporary condition of course, with many  exceptions. In the mean time, we have become accustomed to the example of the arrested moving image of the figure, frozen and blurred in a photograph. It is now an image which we easily read but, would have proved more confusing  and less acceptable 30 years earlier. The blurred photo offers a deeper sense of ambiguity with its paucity of focused or sharp edges.  I find this imagery stimulates the imagination just as Da Vinci suggested artists look into the embers of a fire to spark their imagination.  In order to capture this image ( see example 1)  I rapidly shook my camera while clicking the shutter and relying on a slower exposure. The  effect suggests multiple tracer images.  From this example I cull and distill a simple design. In this case I use two opposing triangles as I have done in earlier paintings of pond reflections.  The vertices of the triangles will provide  strong focal territories. I also overlay the two triangles with a “+” intersecting pattern ( see green lines in example 2)  . Next, I consider the palette. I am attracted to  the complementary effects of spectral yellow vs. spectral blue,  a palette suggestion urged upon painters in the late 19th century by the scientist Hermann  Von Helmholtz.  I will deepen and darken the blue and the yellow with transparent red oxide.  In example 3, I lay in the darks and stay more closely to the cruciform or “+”  design.  The laying in  of the dark shape is gestural  and not concerned with linear or clearly defined edges. Now my effort  is to find gestural shapes which will push the limits  of the legibility of the basic design form.  In example 4, I have pruned away excess dark territory(paint) to reveal more legible shapes and figures as well as added  yellow. Color complements which are not found directly across the color wheel but, are located obliquely left or right of the opposite complementary color are called split adjacent complementary colors. Goethe considered the contrasting arrangement of complementary colors using split adjacents vs. the opposing complement to be an effective color harmony. His theories on complementary color harmonies would influence many artists from Turner to Delacroix to the later Impressionists. In example 5,  I continue my color pruning to reveal more figures. By example 6,  I have had a week to consider the initial painting and, I have concluded that I need more drama  and mystery which may be  applied with more dark above the figure line.  I also reverse my effort at figure clarification and recommence blurring and obsuring the differences in the line of figures.  The central large figure gets further darkened and blended with more of the background.  I want more unity than I felt was in example 5.  I want deeper space than was in example 5. I want more contrast between light and dark. As I watch the painting change I notice how it has traveled away from its orginating trigger image, the photo. I have no allegiance to that photo or any of its effects or information. It served merely as a prod to get me moving and thinking about a design and a general direction.