I recall the picture I took of people doing Tai Chi in a courtyard dotted with sculptures. In this picture I had the face of a sculpture in focus and the rest of the scene was out of focus. I decided to paint this scene.
My premise is to create a conflict, or contrast by utilizing focal points and ink tones.
My first task is to paint a face, a face of a statue. This face is consciously distorted; not only to remove any references or semblance to photography, but also to format it to fit the dimensions of my Xuan. Bulging eye, fat lips, short chin. Really complex emotions. Somehow it seems to work.
I now tidied the shadows of the face a bit, and begin my painting of the Tai Chi gestures. I am using oil to depict my gestures. This is set on a red matte board so I can more easily see the figures.
The wet areas around the oil laden figures is a diluted ink solution, ready to reveal the oil slicks as voids when dried.
I took this picture in dim light to better show off my gestures painted with oil, revealed by ink.
I am at a point now where I don't know what my next move should be. I don't know what else to add to or modify.
At this point, I'm also concerned about whether the oil would go rancid or not in the future and how is it going to affect my mounting. Oh well, too late to worry about that now.
Good time for a break.
I am calling this piece Dream State, or Der Traum; for now.
