Reaching back into the past, I'll show you a little of where I came from. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and yes, that is the "alpha" in alphabet. The second part, "bet" comes from the second Greek letter, beta. So our word alphabet just means a, b. Remember the ABC song you would have learnt as a kid? The one that ends with, "Now I know my abc". There you go, you could instead sing, "Now I know my alpha beta".
Omega, is the 24th and last letter in the Greek alphabet. It is the ending, the completion, the fulfilment. But that can also mean arriving at a destination that presents an even greater vista, and so a new journey begins.
This painting is then in my own creative story, the closing of one chapter and the beginning of a new. My philosophical and technical approach to painting was changing. I had gone as far as I felt that I could. I groped blindly for further direction. Many things were still yet to be revealed to me, but the seeds of the new journey were already in this point of arrival.
I had flirted with portraying my works in a style that, I did not fit to. The go to technique for this direction of art was failing me also. Now looking back at this artwork, I see already a tendency for a limited palette, although I still had no understanding of this.
Some time later, when researching the works of other artists that I admired, I stumbled upon the magic key that opened a world of art, a philosophy and techniques that I would find more inspiring than that of the one I had left behind.
"Alpha Omega", Leo Plaw, 90 x 60cm, oil on canvas, private collection
Prints and reproductions available.
More of my artwork can be found on my website. LeoPlaw.com
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