June Oil Painting: Study of texture and color in muscle fibers
Carnalis, 2019. (Oil on Canvas, 24"x 36".)
Pattern
The main goal in mind for this painting was an in depth practice on how I apply the paint to the canvas. This is broken down into the direction it is applied, the order of paint layers, and the amount added.
The pattern is more noticeable up close, and is an organic and active pattern given rise during the moment of applying the paint. The patterns are abstracted forms interpreted from the image, and translated into paint. There is a distinct painterly style shown; the painting has no problem letting the viewer know that it is paint and is not trying to be photo-realistic.
The noticeable paint strokes follow distinct but unpredictable patterns, and like the ripples in a stream, or wisps of smoke, they follow a somewhat chaotic behavior. There are many repeating strokes of the same color, but they vary in size to mimic natural successions.
(See below)
Brushstroke
In addition to a stylistic application, the paint is also physically applied with quick, defined and separated brushstrokes. There is minimal mixing of colors once on the canvas, and when viewed up close the colors play with each other and create unique palettes within different parts of the painting.
The paint is fattened with added oil to create a wetter look and of which can coat the canvas in a single stoke.The heavily applied paint is accompanied by select definitions with the palette knife. All of this is applied one color at a time, and so similar colors often follow similar patterns and may trail through the painting with a hatching method to it.
Dispersed among the paint is exposed canvas that has been stained with a flat turpentine and cadmium orange wash. These exposed parts are obvious up close, but are the appropriate value so that when viewing from afar the forms are seen. This is a style that pays homage to two favorite painter of mine, John Singer Sargent and Vincent Van Gogh, who often left exposed canvas' when painting en pleine air.
Color
The painting makes the use of five colors, mixed for a palette of eight. Camium Red became a necessary supplemental to get certain warm values or red, with a total of nine colors used. Each color is mixed with a palette knife, and then compared with the reference. When to color is matched, it is then applied to every location of which that color is found.
Subject
The source of imagery comes from a studio photograph of a flap/bavette steak taken earlier in the year. The subject is a macro image of the muscle fibers of the steak, accompanied by luminous belly fat. The steak has very defined bands of muscle which takes to photography quite well, and the folds and crevasses make for a good painting challenge.
Title
Carnalis: of the same blood; natural
A latin word that encapsulates the idea that energy from one being can be transferred to another, and that the very vitality of animals and beings are the same. Not only is this relationship natural, but healthy and essential.
At a molecular level cells and molecules are definitive and you can see one from another, but as you back further away, the small particles create a unison of form. The brushstrokes in this painting behave in a similar way.
