A new blue

Recently I discovered my new favorite color — it’s a deep, rich blue that I get from mixing Cobalt Blue with Ultramarine Blue. I get the “true” blue and good opacity from the Cobalt, and depth from the Ultramarine, which has a little red tinge to enrich the mix.

I worked on this to get the depth I wanted for Cusp, where the blue is pushing through white and has to contend with an unambiguously red protuberance (you tell me what it is). I was so excited by this color (it’s what I always wanted Cobalt Blue to be) that I contrasted it to gold in three 12”x 12” panels: for P-Generator, where I graded it with white; for Flora & Fauna, where I poured in onto the panel and then dripped gold over it; and for Quickening, where I mixed the blue with gel medium to create a rough texture around a smooth golden shape.

Lots of potential interpretations of these four abstractions — I’ve tried to use the titles to get your mind started.

Painting news

As I’ve admittedly procrastinated in composing an update on my painting, things to share have piled up.  But I haven’t procrastinated in painting!

My primary current series is titled The Impossibility of Knowing.  The works share an attempt to capture a moment (for those that are representational) or a set of shapes, and to indicate the passing of the moment or the absence of those shapes, usually by an outline of a mirrored image of the subject.  Each is on a muted background, usually graduated from light to dark.  Here’s one example, The Impossibility of Knowing (16).    Each of these is acrylic paint on a 16”x 24” canvas.

This summer, I’m also fascinated by creating an illusion of depth within a composition.  Here’s an example, in which I challenged myself to maintain a distinction in the apparent distance from the viewer to the various features, and to provide enough detail to hold the viewer’s interest.  

I’ve not abandoned my abiding interest in visual abstraction.  Here’s one of my favorite paintings, Reach (40”x 30”).

One major development has been joining the cooperative gallery Collective Visions.  It’s at 331 Pacific Avenue in Bremerton, WA.  What attracted me to the gallery is the quality of the artists, the diversity of the work, and the space being large enough for each member to have an area for display.  We rotate our exhibits at the beginning of each month, so there’s always something new, and always some works by each of us.  For those of you in or near Seattle, it’s two blocks from the ferry terminal.  Bremerton’s worth a visit:  there’s been a lot of redevelopment on the waterfront, and of course, the ferry trip is magnificent.   For those of us in or near Tacoma, it’s only a 25-minute drive beyond the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

I’ve also been accepted into the art-rental program of Ryan James Fine Arts, a commercial gallery in Kirkland, WA.  They currently have four of my pieces, for rental to commercial or individual clients.

This month (August), 13 of my small works are on display at Bluebeard Coffee Roasters at 2201 Sixth Avenue in Tacoma (standing at the east end of the Sixth Avenue collection of shops and restaurants).  These include the entire Faces of Evil series, which didn’t scare away the shop owner, and bring quizzical looks from the café’s patrons.

As always, I invite you to visit my website, jwharrington.com, to see what new things I’ve completed!

Abstraction

As a viewer, abstraction appeals to me because of the authority it gives me to determine what I’m seeing and what it brings to mind and heart.  Abstract expressionism can be defined in many ways, but most simply, “abstract” visual art doesn’t represent any single set of physical objects, and “expressionist” painting uses color, form, texture, and their juxtaposition (composition) to evoke conscious or not-quite-conscious feelings in the viewer.  The work is what it is – not a mountain, vase, or person – but for me, it can be at least as powerful as painted images of such objects.