Blog Comments

Excellent lecture on this StLukes. Aren't we lucky.

Thanks for the comments, Petrarch. I agree that she does have something very Indian about her... and as I already noted I wasn't sold on the title either... It just jumped into my mind in relationship to the writhing black hair. The next work will certainly continue in the current direction... but I'm probably looking forward to what it will amount to more than anyone.

Stunning, St. Luke's! I've somehow missed seeing most of your blog entries and so hadn't seen what you've been up to in your art lately. These two recent triptychs are amazing--I think the best I've seen of the work you've posted here--and this last painting in particular is really fantastic. I can see how all the varied influences you've been looking at are coming out in it, but it also stands strikingly on its own terms. I love the palatte, and the materials in it (is the reflective surface behind her burnished gold leaf? I can't tell in the photograph). On the one hand you display a subtle consciously artificial awareness in the geometric designs, the sketch-like marks composing her skin, the slightly Persian illuminator/Klimptian (is that an adjective?) composition and use of texture and material (all that collage work is really paying off big time here). Yet you balance the elements that draw attention to the technique, with those sensuous lines outlining her body (all that Japanese study coming out?) and the intensity of her pose and her expression. Her eyes are like an an Indian Botticelli.

I don't, however, like the title "Medusa" for her. It just doesn't work. I like the idea of both Scheherazade and Schulamite, though. She's very song of songs.

Hope you keep exploring along these lines. You're really ON artistically here and I look forward to seeing what comes next!

Again... thanks all.

I actually like paintings that are subdued in terms of color if done well (Velasquez, Utamaro, Morandi, etc...) and have done as much myself. About two years ago, however, I was absolutely floored by an exhibition of Venetian painters (Titian, Bellini, Giorgione, Veronese, Tintoretto, etc...) at the national Gallery in Washington. It brought about a renewed desire to draw/paint from the figure... for sensuality... for color. This combined with the jewel-like color of Persian miniatures have been a major inspiration for my own explorations of color. While I love some of the color and textural possibilities of pastel, I have no doubt that I will eventually return to oil... perhaps in tandem with egg-tempera or casein. Nothing has the intensity of real Cadmium Red or Yellow... or true Ultramarine Blue made with Lapis Lazuli... real crushed gems.

Amazing! I would love to also see closer pics of the redhead nudes to the side.

Thanks for posting the link:) I really love your paintings. I think it is the vibrancy of the colors you use that intrigues me the most. I'm not a fan of washed out colors, so richness and contrast in the colors you use is really appealing to me.

Wow. Fantastic!

So very beautiful, what amazing work! i specially like the realistic proportions of the figure and how the upper right half of it seems to lead to some eerie forgotten garden, like a crystal window.

we sure have a lot of talented people here at Litnet.
very nice indeed!!!

Logos... thanks for the comments. Hindu, eh? Yes I see it. Perhaps it is part of all the Indian sculpture I have been looking at over the past year. Lakshmi? Layla? Mumtāz?

a lovely painting stlukes I love the angles and suggestions of windows and doors that you've used (something I love about Matisse too) and the sgraffito-like elements, giving depth and richness to the scene and lending great contrast to the woman.

I'm not sure what I would suggest as title either, I'm seeing some Tahitian in her, but also Hindu goddess

Again... thanks for all the positive feedback.

Thanks for the comments all.

Oh that's why I focused on the hair. It greatly contrasts with the background. And the black hair connects with the black in many places. Actually i love the whole color scheme.

Paintings... visual art forms in general... are just as consciously structured as a piece of music or a poem. Art works are composed with thoughts given to harmony, balance, movement, contrast etc... In most traditional art works... especially most figurative works... the artists carefully structure the works with an intent of drawing the viewers eye first and foremost to what he or she feels to be the focal point. There are endless ways of achieving this which are essentially learned over time and with a lot of experience... both looking at art and making art.

You are right about the figure's hair harmonizing with the other black areas in the painting. Her head is virtually a pivot-point around which the three corners with black rotate. Because of the manner in which we read, most Western viewers also "read" art from left to right and top to bottom. As one enters the work from the left we hit the huge contrast between the black and the orange which immediately leads us down to the head. This is reinforced by the downward angle of the floor where it abuts the black doorway. It is also repeated in the motion created when one's eye attempt to follow the orange shape above down to connect with the orange shape below... again striking the head. One final area leading to the head is found in the dark brown fringe area of the cloth hanging over the screen.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3224/...6f533484_o.jpg

Anyway... just thought I'd give you some idea on the sort of mechanics that go on in a painting. Its always interesting to look at a great old master painting and then ask yourself where your eye is drawn and why. One of my favorites is the Creation of Adam by Michelangelo which employs what is called a tangent... or a point at which two points touch or nearly touch... The fact that the two fingers do not quite touch creates a great visual tension... like two arrows pointed at each other... almost but not quite touching.

Of course... during the creative process it is not always so consciously thought out. After a while it becomes instinctual... or subconscious. We tend to just try things out... move things around... until it clicks... or not... often only sitting down and thinking things through when we realize something isn't working.

Ms. mkhockenberry... Thanks for the comments. You can see the triptych to the right head on on the posting Some Art by Stlukesguild- pt. 4.

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/blog.php?b=6481

Oh that's why I focused on the hair. It greatly contrasts with the background. And the black hair connects with the black in many places. Actually i love the whole color scheme.

Virgil... like I said... I'm not really sold on the title. It just popped into my mind after I completed her hair. The twisting and writhing tendrils... so dramatic in contrast to the rest of the painting... just made me think of the serpent-haired Gorgon. Of course with the sensual seductress sitting among an almost Persian overload of pattern I have also toyed with the idea of Scheherazade... or even Shulamite. Usually the title comes to me during the process. Unfortunately the working title, Psyche fell to the wayside when I eliminated the allusions to the classical figure during the process.

I have to say that I love them all. I would love to see a head on view of the other set of three that I can see to the right. They're lovely, and they remind me of some of the older nudes that I've seen in the many art museums that I've been to. I've always been a bit partial to nudes anyway, but these are really nice. I especially love the attention to detail that you've taken with the gold leaf and the weathered look to the background. You should be quite proud. Take Care, Meg

I think it's stunning, StLukes. I don't know much about art but whatever the background patterns mean or do they really make the painting. I must say I love her hair and expression. Medusa as a title? I don't see it. Perhaps I'm missing something. But I have no suggestions. Let us know what you ultimately name it.

You say your stuff can be found on the web-would it be found under the name stlukesguild?

Yes... I'm under the same name at my art sites and my old web pages. Thanks for the comments on the work.