On a single dot of paint

This is the last painting of the "white subject in white environment" series. As with all of them, I want to push this one out of the initial alla prima "sketchy" phase into something a bit more solved. Check out the video if you'd like to see the uncut process of that stage—now with 80% less Head in the way + real and uncut Studio Audio. Come and work in silence with me lol.

As I mentioned yesterday, when I came back to these initial attempts in order to give them one more painting pass, I noticed that each one has a bit of a theme going on; there was always one aspect of the painting that stood out to me. That second stage then became an effort in carefully emphasizing that aspect more to really push the "message," so to speak.

Another additional "challenge," btw, in these second passes was that I wanted to do those from imagination. This was especially interesting in this painting, I believe.

This painting of a lightbulb was, in a way, the "strangest" of the bunch because even as I started painting it, I noticed that highlight just screaming at me. There was no doubt about it that this painting needed to be about that highlight, and everything else needed to become secondary.

Now here is an interesting question, especially when working from imagination: How do you make a painting "about" something? I know it's a weird one, mostly because there are an infinite number of ways you can tackle something like this. Sure, there is the obvious way: "Duh, it's about a lightbulb!" Sure, go ahead and paint that lightbulb as you see it in front of you; that will for sure get you there. Okay, but what happens when we go a little bit deeper than that, a bit more abstract? What if the painting is supposed to be about a highlight? Even more abstract—what if the painting is supposed to be about the way that highlight, this perfect sharply burning pixel of light, "feels"? Oh god, here we go.

I think that this is the point where (jeez, another one of these words) "artistry" comes into place. There are an infinite number of ideas that can aid you in solving just this particular issue of showing this highlight. From formal technical solutions based in classical painting—which can lead to a so beautifully nature-like depiction of the subject that you might want to touch the painting with your fingers to make sure that it really is "just an illusion"—to wildly abstract, conceptual ideas, which are just as valid. I mean, it's not hard to imagine a painting of a dark, greyish, mushy canvas representing the background with a single crystal-clear white dot in the middle of it representing "the highlight."

To me, it is really fun thinking about these things and how I, personally, like to handle them. It's especially fun in this case, as I am working from my head. More concretely, I personally like to find a solution that might not necessarily be the "proven method," just to check if I can make it work anyway.

So here is the result of working and thinking like this in this tiny painting of a lightbulb. It's unfortunate that I am not really able to capture the effect that highlight has in a photo, but when standing in front of it, especially at some distance, the effect is super eerie, to be honest, and frankly, I am not exactly sure why. It's what's really cool about painting. You can go in with a plan, and that plan can actually work out fine, but then, when you see the painting fully realized in front of you, it suddenly becomes magic again. You know that you just made that and you felt kind of in control, but how it actually works as a whole, I have no idea.

AWESOME!!

Next week I'll be starting with a new themse for the daily lifepaintings. I already how what and it TERRIFIES me! See you then lol.

This painting, along with all the others from the "white object in white environment" series, is available in my shop. Feel free to check it out!