R54 Nuclear Puzzle (rearrangement)

R54 Nuclear Puzzle (rearrangement)

24 x 24" ink on panel

private collection

I worked on this picture, on and off, between oil paintings.  It is a continuation of R43, 'Stirring the Waters'.  Here, particles and matter have been stirred up, and the raven-ish angels are busy rearranging the pieces.

The wolfish-looking mouse and man-eating plants at the bottom are a bit of a joke.  I had accidentally erased a file on my computer, and took out my frustrations on the picture.  I did paint over the mouse's fangs, but the mushroom-like plants still look menacing.  The giant dragonfly happened into the picture because I spent a lot of time down by the lake watching them.  They are born in a spectacular eruption out of the water, and do quite a bit of stirring up, themselves.

R53 Swing with Raven

R53 Swing with Raven

36 x 24" oil on panel

private collection

An in-between, fun picture, meant to indulge the temperamental artist.  I had been casting a very critical eye on my recent crowded compositions and gaudy colours.  I decided to paint a real tree with a real raven, and of course the picture is nothing of the sort.

Experimenting, I wanted to try the permanent marker lines again.  I had originally used it in 'Nuclear Picnic', R13, and liked the way the marker faded to purplish black.  It is interesting working with the heavy, irregular outline.

R52 Brain with Mouse

 R52 Brain with Mouse

24 x 24" oil on panel

$500.00

This is the third in the brain sequence of oils in the Raven Series, and is the next progression or phase of the first brain painting, 'Ravens on the Brain', R37.  The mouse is used rather humorously as the motivator or mover, in much the same way a mouse controls a computer.  The eye is now central, the tentacles spiralling outward in perpetual growth, and the 'brain cells' of the previous painting have become neurone shapes.  The fleshy growths are repeated from several other paintings, including the 'brain' watercolours, but here I have added veined tracings, to repeat the branching (growing) pattern of the tentacles and to indicate the taking and spreading of nourishment, perhaps in the form of input information becoming ideas, self-perpetuating.  The blood-red background, the red of inspiration, is the nourishing ground, feeding into the rest of the shapes like lifeblood.

There is a science involved here, too, mathematics, fractals, those wonderful repeated patterns that appear everywhere, in everything, and disappear into both outward and inward perspectives, to infinity.  The branching pattern, seen in the veins, in branches, in tentacles, in trees, in our body's appendages.  The cellular shape, seen in blood cells, in rocks, in water patterns, in bubbles, in solar systems and galaxies.  The wing shape, seen in just about everything that moves, and really just a variation of branching.  Fractals.

R51 Neurones, wingspans

R51 Neurones, wingspans

4 x 8" graphite on panel

R50 Listening

R50 Listening

4 x 8" graphite on paper

The next night, as it was still raining and the symphony seemed to have picked up where it left off, with one of those Mozart pieces that one can never remember the number of, I completed this drawing.  When the children saw it in the morning, they dubbed it 'the raven telephone', and that rather cleverly describes what it is about.  The raven speaks to the artist, who is receptor-ready.

R49 Raven and Neurones

R49 Raven and Neurones

graphite on paper

One of three drawings done while we were camping.  In the first drawing, the neurones are connected to the idea, in the shape of the raven, and that idea of course is ready to fly off and become a real shape, something to be noticed.

It was very late at night when I did this, and it was raining outside.  The rain on the tin roof of the camper seemed a good accompaniment to the classical music on the radio.   I drew the picture by lantern light, with a mechanical pencil.  It may have been Mozart playing: something familiar.

R48 Raven Methodology

R48 Raven Methodology

24 x 24" graphite on panel

private collection

In making this larger graphite work, I was trying to link together the motifs related to the brain, to memory and to vision, that I have used in other works, or found interesting in my studies.  The familiar receptors and neurones can be found, as well as the mouse and  snail motifs, the fish, raven and book, and my favourite cell.bubble motif.

The title comes from the process involved in thinking through and building up this freehand picture (applying to most of my drawings and paintings), the searching of memory, the repetition and mutation of ideas (motifs) and the recording of them (the book).  Although a turmoil, the patterning is logical and limitless in its variation, hence the 'painting that never ends', the ideas that follow one off the other in painting and writing sequences.

R47 Raven Primer

R47 Raven Primer

7 x 9" acrylic and ink on panel

private collection

The prototype for a new idea for black and white drawings on panel.  I wanted to avoid works on paper, as they are more difficult to frame and appear different in an exhibition.  Glass obscures detail.  With everything on panels, the works can be framed the same, and have much the same appearance, which is important for viewing the progression of the sequences.  However, painting large areas of black on panel with ink is difficult and very uneven.  Here, I tried acrylic for the large black areas, and was pleased with the added texture.  It is quite different in appearance from the black and white oils, as the oil is etched and even sketched on with pen.  But I like the quick drying acrylics for pen work.

Sometimes ideas come from nothing, it seems, and I was very pleased with the idea of a raven alphabet book, and a rather lost-looking lady.  Sometimes the very small works are good, because they cannot contain too much: the eye cant take them all in at once, and they form a pleasingly simple pattern.

R46 Angel with Snail and Mouse

R46 Angel with Snail and Mouse

12 x 12" oil on panel

private collection

R45 Ghosts, Snails and Ravens

R45 Ghosts, Snails and Ravens

6 x 8" graphite on panel

private collection

R44 Snail and Raven

R44 Snail and Raven

6 x 8" graphite on panel

private collection

R43 Stirring the Waters

R43 Stirring the Waters
24 x 24" ink on panel
private collection

The continuation of the idea in R41, 'The Omnipresence of Raven'.  Here the retina/sun shape has become the 'angel', who reaches down to stir up the void.  All of the plant-like shapes are actually animal life.

R42 Raven Tapestry

R42 Raven Tapestry

wool

private collection

Return to Raven Series

R41 The Omnipresence of Raven

R41 The Omnipresence of Raven
30 x 36" ink on panel
private collection

R40 Lady, Ravens and Reader

R40 Lady, Ravens and Reader
oil on panel 30 x 36"
private collection

For the first time I am composing as I paint, so that the etched painting, technically more a drawing, is a daily combined record of the ideas that usually go into a series of ink drawings.  The raven has reappeared in his complete form, as have the checks, feather and leaf motifs, and scales.

R39 Lady and Raven

R39 Lady and Raven
24 x 24" ink on panel

R38 Lady with a Brain

R38 Lady with a Brain
36 x 48" oil on panel