The Process of Illumination

The Process of Illumination

acrylic/pencil on canvas, 20 x 24"

$150.00

I already spoke about The Process of Illumination back in March, but mentioning it in regard to it's exposed pencil lines in my last post on Polar, I wanted to share some more pictures of this minimalist canvas. As I did with Polar, the pencil lines of the initial drawing were left visible on the canvas, then smoothed over with my fingers, leaving the smudge marks around them for a worn looking surface on the canvas. When I felt the number of washes in varying shades if white had reached the desired effect, I went back over my initial pencil drawing, then varnished over the canvas to finish.

As I said before, the inspiration for this canvas was that synapse at the moment of sentient understanding we experience when we become aware of a situation, concept, or inner realization. Illustrating raw, base emotion in my work had become the foundation of my work, but an undefined existentialist idea such as this was new territory for me. The spare pencil lines connecting there at the horizontal row of circles in the middle ground illustrate that point awareness, that connection. I had to resist not strong handling the the canvas to keep it's gauzy nature, and hence it's interior essence, intact. It looks simple enough, but in my recent experiences working within a nonobjective style, expressing such an open idea can be difficult. That said, if these paintings have not been successful in the eyes of my public, the last year of work has been a time of real growth in my creative process. For these reasons, I feel The Process of Illumination is a work of personal triumph.

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