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March 15, 2009

An assumed order

I like stripes. But you’ve got to be careful with stripes. It’s easy to go too far with stripes.

naked-hussar.jpg
The Naked Hussar, digital photograph

The body is infinite in its variety, unlike stripes which, by definition, tend to hold the same pattern. Tedium is only ever a step away with stripes.

Jo-&-jacket.jpg
Jo and the jacket, oil on panel, 1060mm x 1060mm

The Hussar’s jacket, with its regimented, intricate, frogging, is a good way to get stripes involved. Due to the process and the fabrics concerned there’s a degree of randomness within the order. They are to a certain extent organic.

Jo-jacket-detail.jpg
Jo and the jacket, detail

To capture this in paint is difficult, it really makes you look, which is a Good Thing in itself. You have to paint stripes the same way you would paint a belly. It’s no good just mixing up a red and a yellow to lay down next to each other. You have to treat each part separately, depending on the light, whilst still maintaining a sense of the whole.

on-the-armchair.jpg
Helen on the big armchair, oil on panel 1060mm x 1060mm

Stripes are useful for their implied order. We can make easy assumptions about the form when the stripes become distorted.

Posted by john at March 15, 2009 01:13 AM

Comments

I like all these stripes.

Posted by: Daphne at March 15, 2009 06:24 PM