substratum #1

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Wess Foreman

After a few weeks away from the easel, I returned and decided to lean even more heavily toward the abstract side of things with this piece I'm calling, "Substratum #1." I very rarely start and finish a painting in the nonobjective abstract realm. Usually there is some semblance of familiarity, even with my abstract work . . . a horizon line, something resembling trees or people, something recognizable. In that way, this one remains a mystery.

I like the color choices I made, keeping the primary colors, despite the dark, brooding atmosphere of the painting. Initially, I had the idea of going with a Sunday comics theme, the yellow, blue and red suggesting the newspaper ink, but somewhere along the way the idea changed into something else, perhaps something more substantial. And somehow the energetic, kinetic application of color throughout the painting is kept in check with the subtle black border, conveying less an idea of excitement and more of an idea of static, inner turmoil, in my opinion (though it might be seen by others as frantic energy I suppose; that's fine). Anyway, I like how it turned out, and I plan to do more like this.