Hey, I wanted to share with you some of the stages of the process of my painting 'Unconstructed' which I painted while studying in Vienna a few years back.
I like to work in layers (indirect painting method) so it can be fun to look back and see a work and different stages of it's evolution.
To begin a painting I usually start with a chaotic background that I create using decalcomania (pressing plastic wrap into the wet paint to generate random texture). I think of creating a painting as slowly defining a specific image out of infinite potential, sculpting out of chaos by slowly removing possibilities as opposed to build it up out of nothing.
Once the background is prepared and dried I get into a flow state and knowing there will be many layers on top I let my hand automatically painting out the 'undercurrent' of the painting using either egg tempera or lead white. Usually this takes the form of flow lines, patterns and threads which then tie together to become defined forms. Here is what emerged for this painting:
Then I glaze transparent colours over this and then bring back the white on top making the next layer more defined:
I decided that the electric blue was not for this painting and neutralized it with some layers of brown, red and yellow:
In the final layers I was using transparent black and some purplish browns with some more decalcomania to bring back some texture.
The finished painting:
'Unconstructed', 50cm x 70cm, oil & egg tempera on canvas
The original painting is sold but if you're interested I have prints available here:
https://philjoannides.com/product/unconstructed-a3-poster-print/
shipping is free!
Thank you for looking!