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December 13, 2005
Just plain big
[I refuse to use the hideous portmanteaux and slogans of the fast food corporations when referring to a bigger amount of things.]
I’m embarking on a Big Torso – very big. Bigger than I’ve done before. I usually paint life-size, I paint a life-size figure on a six foot [1800mm] panel. This time I’m just painting the torso [tor·so n. pl. tor·sos or tor·si (-s) the human body excluding the head and limbs; trunk]. So it must be at least three times life-size [don’t go there].
It must be a Law of Something or Other. Equal and opposites? – nah. Diminishing Returns? – Nah. The size alters the effect of the brushes, the relative sizes of brush to detail, the differential of the fluidity of the paint to the area of panel to be covered. That one where the size and temperature of the thermometer affects the readings [you know the one, Jonathan].
There is a danger though. The danger we fall into at an early age. Usually in Geography lessons. COLOURING IN. Large areas to be covered in paint can lend themselves to mindless colouring in. But I have the advantage that the body is infinitely subtle and virtually fractal, so there is detail in there, and I must hunt it out. It's an adventure! [Oh look, there I go, nearly falling into the trap of consumerist led consciousness.]
Posted by john at December 13, 2005 12:50 AM