Wild Irises by the Window II, ©John O’Grady
12″ x 12″ x 1.25″, acrylic on deep edged panel, ready to hang.
$397 (approx. €354, £305)with free shipping
Exploring the placement of colour next to colour and positioning objects within the picture space on last week’s interior still life was interesting and exciting.
This week’s piece is a variation on the same theme, this time on a slightly larger format.
When working on a small format versus a larger one, relationships between colour and objects play out differently and need careful consideration to sustain a pleasing whole. Working out possibilities is the fun part.
The irises are now white and have moved further right. They are counterbalanced by the introduction of a circular ceramic fruit bowl bisected by the light flooding through the window.
The larger flower glows surrounded by magenta light.
In this piece, large areas are filled with a singular field of colour. The objects, flattened, are like players on a stage and act as dynamic counterpoints to those fields.
Colour is what matters yet I wanted to suggest the warmth of a Provençal evening flooding in with the light through the window. Can you feel that too?
I’d love to hear what you think.
your colours work so well John, the placing of the objects too, a good composition all round, blessings to you, Julie
Hello Julie,
Thank you very much for your comment. Glad to hear you like the painting.
I enjoy receiving your emails with your latest paintings. Personally I prefer your lovely atmospheric landscapes to your still lifes. To me the main thing about your art is the atmosphere. Hope you don’t mind me saying this!
Hi Susan
Thank you for your comment, I will still be doing atmospheric landscapes too. It’s great to hear you are enjoying them 🙂
My first thought when viewing this painting and the previous one, John, was of Giorgio Morandi — which struck me as strange, given Morandi’s tonal austerity and quiet compositions, compared to the vivid, emotionally charged color in your pieces. But there’s something about the way the objects are placed, and are left to speak for themselves, in a sense, that seems to link you to him in my mind. The objects in your paintings, intentionally flattened, are pulsing with inner life and calling out to us to see, really see, them. The subversion of perspective adds to this sense — look at me as I am! The openness of the presentation of the plate has an emotional quality that I find quite moving. The moody but intense light brings the atmosphere of the outside world into this private space. And the palette, combining complementary and analogous colors, plays with both the eyes and the heart.
Hello Jo,
Thank you very much for your thoughtful words on the painting. I am honoured to hear Morandi mentioned when talking about one of my paintings. I am very fond of his work Jo and think like you that he managed with great spirit to sanctify what would most often be thought of as the mundane in his work. they are as you say ’emotionally charged.
The placing of the objects that you mention is helped a good deal by being able to shift and alter the objects by small amounts. I am using a vinyl acrylic which is velvety and highly pigmented which have great coverage, so I can refine accordingly.