The title of this mixed media painting is borrowed from a poem called ‘In my Craft or Sullen Art’ by Dylan Thomas.
I made the work in 2009, I was familiar with the poem, but
chose the title after completing it, as for me, when making a painting, it is
vital that I am as free as is possible from the direct influence of a conscious subject.
The intention is to
convey a sense of drama, in the contrast between the hot colours in the lower
third of the picture, and the cooler, deep blues in the upper two thirds, the
intersected and conjoined diversity of marks across the picture plane, contribute
to a feeling of circular motion and restless energy.
The picture is also about materials per se, not
merely as a vehicle for creating an illusion, but materials ‘of themselves’.
The lower half is comprised of thick impasto, applied by whatever blades and
tools seemed most appropriate at the time,
sometimes the paint is scraped off, to show previous layers.
The colour to the upper half is vigorously applied by brush and palette knife. In parts, some masking
has been used, and in others the surface is gouged through to the paper; the angular, but nebulous marks are made with
pastel and chalk.
The aim of this truly, mixed media approach, is to create as
much surface interest as possible, whilst at the same time, striving to make an
immediate and visually arresting image.
George Taylor
October 2019
Taylor-Thwaites Studios, Stonewalls, Sturt Road, Charlbury,
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, OX7 3EP
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This picture is on Saunders Waterford (300lb) Cotton Mould Made Acid Free Paper, set within a deep cut, off-white mount within a lime-washed hardwood frame. It measures 81 centimetres x 100 centimetres overall and will be included in Mallam’s, Modern and Post War British Art Sale in Oxford on Friday 6th December 2019. (max.fisher@mallams.co.uk 01865241358
