Ingrid Lee Art

I started this painting at the beginning of December, and it is still on the go (yes the other porcelain paintings I’ve been working on are still being worked on too…but things dry at different times, kiln firings take time, so I maximise my time! ).  This post is to document my thinking through this painting and where I am at during this series of art works about Destiny and Love…it’s a long post.  This series of artworks has been an interesting journey, one of bringing up old feelings, sharing experiences which are personal, or had been locked away, thinking and observations of love over the years, inspirations from what I read and music I listen to…and while I paint and explore, I expect that the works will represent the thinking through my understanding of the concepts.   This is one of the largest paintings I’m working on in the series of  Destiny and Love, it’s 152 cm x 90cm…I have not given it a title yet.

I have been researching Tenebrist painting, particularly the works of female Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi.

“Judith and Her Maidservant” by Artemisia Gentileschi

Her paintings left an impression on me since I first saw her work at a Melbourne exhibition in 2004 (I will write about this in another blog post).  The use of extreme contrasts of light and dark in figurative compositions to reflect drama is a technique which is of particular interest.  While my current painting is not figurative nor technically tenebrist, (my other paintings using this technique will be different, talk about this later), this painting is the first process of discovery for communication of style and thought of an adaptation of it.  For this painting, I wanted to use my techniques of layering intense complimentary colours in contrast to darker background, to show reveal the composition and forms (in place of the figure), in abstract expressionist style.

Here is the first layer of undercolours and combinations of intense colours.

Underpainting, Ingrid Lee

As the painting has progressed, the darker values are working to create the contrasts and mood.  I do not work with black, I prefer to create a richness which balances throughout the painting and mix with my own darkest values, and contrasting them with complimentary colours to grey them down or make them pop.  The paints I use are a flow consistency, not structural, so they are easier to build up with thin layers of glazing.  For me I still want life in the painting, and to utilize the idea of movement in the background of the painting, as shown in Velazquez’s work, I will see how this approach goes.

…still a long way to go….

So how does this connect to Destiny and Love?

Destiny….how do I understand it now, after 8 paintings (I haven’t shared all completed art works at the moment, I have planned for about 20 more)????  Is destiny the result of wanting what you want today, but realising that it takes longer to have what you desire, and what you desire will truly come in time?  I think that concepts I’ve explored in the paintings so far direct my thinking that all things will come in perfect time, and that we should enjoy the journey while finding what it is we want…maybe this is destiny.

The biggest part of my journey through these paintings has resulted in my learning about how to deal with my relationship between impatience and time- something which also I have learned about through love.  So I think that destiny is a journey, not a finite thing that will result in happiness or unhappiness, it’s not about getting what you want, but what you are going to discover about yourself.

Through abstract expressionism I have been able to communicate my actions and immediate feelings and responses to experiences and observations about Love and Destiny.  Through this whole journey, which started as far back as the creation of Ingrid-creates, and my exhibition of Journey for the artistic soul in Russia, and my research for this current series of paintings, I have realised that I am not fearful of feeling or expressing my feelings and thoughts because I have come to realise, that that which makes me sad or disconnected, or fearful is really an energy and experience which can I use to transcend from those shadows toward finding light and hope, this is the path to the journey of finding love…maybe.  This painting in particular represents that transcendence.  So this journey of being connected to my feelings and expectations of what I want is going to reveal something wonderful.

What this journey is…is not about romantic love, this is about love for myself, learning to express those feelings connected with our everyday perceptions of love, but really what I have been destined to do, as I understand it, is to find and understand the passion within, harness it, by making the choice to create my experiences.

I will wait to see how this painting finishes…..

Another painting on porcelain in this series “Maybe it’s Love”