“Checking messages” – acrylic and ink on inscribed 81x122cm hardboard.
This is an exploration of a small painting from early 2022, which was also a twilight scene in a park, with birch trees lit by moonlight from behind the viewer, a lamp and a red bench.
I saw an extended twilight recently that brought that painting to mind, though this one felt both beautiful and vaguely ominous. I wanted to bring that feeling to a new much larger work, again with birches but in autumn as it is here now. And this time, someone on the bench, relaxed, engrossed in scrolling on their phone (a 4th light source) seemingly impervious to the world around them.
I guess the message that I wanted to convey in this painting is a lot more blunt than what I usually do!
The technical challenges in this painting fascinated me – night/twilight scenes always do, with their subtle mix of dark hues blending into and contrasting with each other, and the atmosphere you can create when the lit areas are fewer and smaller & the world seems to gather close around the scene being portrayed.
In the brightness of the lamp-lit area I wanted to feel like day, but also show how small that area is & how ineffective it really is at keeping the night at bay.
The real difficulty was created by the birch trees – those swirling, curving shapes probably deserved to be the heroes, the main focal points of the piece rather than serving second fiddle. Perhaps including them took the risk of biting off more than I could chew, of distracting rather than enhancing the overall composition, but I feel in the end it worked in this case.
I’m also really glad I inscribed (carved into the wood) the outlines of the trees as it creates a beautiful and subtle 3D effect, which can be seen when light glances off the painting.
