Inspiration and the subconscious

Sometimes long after I have made a painting, I slowly begin to realize where the image came from. One image is composed by many different images.

Sight occupies a great deal of the brain, and seeing is mainly remembering. Even though snow is not always white, but often blue or gray, you see a white surface, and conclude the the white, blue, and gray matter is the thing you call snow, and think of as white. To see snow as white, you need memory. It is the same with faces. The first time you see a face you may conclude that a hat belongs to the face.

When you paint, you look and look into the canvas, you take a few steps back and look for that image which is already there. To paint is therefore a search into ones memory.

Hopefully, you don't reproduce a painting already present in the physical world, but you take parts from many different pictures, and make something which was not present in them, and not in the sum of them. Good art, and writing, is bigger than the sum of all the parts. I don't know, if that is the case in this painting of mine, but it is a good example of how non-verbalized memory - or if you want, the subconscious - may work, in a creative process.

Flying Dutchman
41x56 cm. Mixed media on canvas.

This painting consists of at least three pictures, one from my school days. I suspect that it was in one of the history books, even though it is a story from the Bible, trying to explain the origin of different languages. (Nowadays we have a much more plausible theory, and it has nothing to do with God, or the hubris in men.)

Tower of Babel
Pieter Brueghel the Elder
(1563)

Something of the shape is there, but looking at these two painting next to each other you are awestruck by the richness in detail and in perspective. But anyway, mine is has something of a mystery to it...

The entire city
Max Ernst

( 1935-37)

Perhaps it is not so obvious were this wonderful painting is blended into my painting. Again, it is the shape, even though mine is clearly more vertical. The foreground which is filled with flowers (dying?) in Ernst's painting, is in mine lies in darkness. Perhaps, there is something missing (I mean, except talent).





The last painting I found in my own, is Arnold Böcklin's romantic painting Die Toteninsel from 1883. (Death is an Island somewhere in the Mediterranean, and presumably quite crowded.) But again, memory is not to be trusted. In my mind it is still much darker, I mean, it my memory it actually looks a lot more like my painting.

I suspect that there is even a fourth or fifth painting dwelling there somewhere.

Hope you are well.

Yours sincerly,

Sidsåret in English and explanation of the name

SIDSÅRET in English!

Sidsåret is my two year old blog. The blog name refers the New Testament and the story about Jesus on the cross. A roman soldier, after the unusually quick death of Jesus, "poked" the dead man with his spear and out came water and blood. The wound Jesus was inflicted from this long spear was seated on his right side, just on the ribs. So, the name means simply side wound.This is where Tomas the Apostle (the one that doubted), after the resurrection of Christ, had to stick his finger to assure himself. Of course, this wound has a lot of connotations and is surrounded by mystery. Where does the water come from?




You may wonder why I named my blog after this story. As a matter of fact, it has had a great significance for my writing. This blog was originally used for publishing texts, but since I, for some time now, have had a quite serious writes block, I paint, awaiting the words to return. Therefor I publish my paintings, but decided to keep the name. It was just a couple of years ago I discovered that it was not only the story from the Bible, which had had such an influence on my writing, but the painting, the Death of Marat by David.




Notice the oblong, clean cut on his chest, clearly a christian reference to the death of Christ. For many years this picture and the story of Jesus brewed in my mind, and finally came to signify writing itself. Perhaps that is not so strange. Blood is in both "pictures" and water came out of Jesus' wound; Marat is taking a bath and was killed in the act of writing. To me, this picture always seemed to be the portrait of a suicide. Then, writing seemed to balance on a very thin line between life and death.




Have a good one!

3 new paintings

Even more paintings. On Monday my vacation ends. So here are some so called holiday pictures. Still I have the time, before early mornings and unpaid overtime(?). Perhaps I had Turner in mind when I painted the one below. Here I've used what I think is called a putty knife in English. Furthermore a old British phone card turned out to be very useful. I've tried to avoid to go in to too much detail, instead I've been trying to give a feeling of an upset see in a harbour. Actually, it is a classic landscape. I used a brush for the under painting only. The method which I have appropriated this summer is the so called wet-on-wet method, inspired by the old masters, e.g. Rembrandt. But, of course he went into detail. That is, for the time being quite above my skills. Anyway, I like the roughness and the life this method creates. (Double click to enlarge).

Harbour.
65x92 cm. Oil on canvas.

This is sort of an on-the-side-painting of figures in darkness and light. In this painting, as you can see, I have used brushes, but again the wet on wet method was used. Especially, I like the figures to the left. And in real life the man, the second from the right, looks a bit like Bacon. I suppose that he first paints the background and then paints his figures in one go. For that figure I had a black, dry background, and I painted him with the use of my fingers. I especially like the white small white paint dots on his shoes and the red-black colour of his trousers (which unfortunately is not visible in this photo).

Men in light and shadow.
30x87 cm. Oil on canvas.

Below you see what originally was a self portrait, were I had a beard. That's why he has seems to have a slight oversized chin. And here I've used thick, unmixed paint. Of course, no detail is possible with the putty knife. For the time being, it is still lacks a a bit of colour for my taste. Perhaps I will ad some red, burnt umber and yellow ochre to it.

Man.
40x53 cm. Oil on canvas.

That's all for now folks!


Please don't be afraid to comment.

Bloggen nyöppnad

Utpekad.
105x165. Olja.

Nu har jag varit borta ett tag och inte hunnit måla och inte hunnit uppdatera bloggen. Och det kommer vara svårt i höst också. Men här är i alla fall en av de målningar jag jobbar med nu.

Målningar

Det här är min "ateljé". Nu har jag ändå städat. Det är lite trångt. Speciellt med de stora bilderna.


Det var ganska längesedan jag uppdaterade min blogg. Det skäms jag för. Orsaken är att jag inte har ett bildredigeringsprogram där jag kan fixa bilderna innan jag publicerar dem. Nu måste jag ändå få visa lite bilder som jag har jobbat med nu i sommar. Jag har haft tre veckors semester och skämts för att jag inte njutit av sommaren, utan stannat inne och målat. Men det är lyx.



Bilden ovan är en bild som jag har jobbat med ett tag. Den är ännu inte klar, men jag gillar det blöta sätt jag har lagt på färgerna. Den är som sagt inte klar, men är på väg. Ångest säger en del. Men jag blir glad.


Den här bilden är en liten mysig bild, tycker jag. Jag gillar mannen till höger. Det är något Baconskt över honom. Här har jag också jobbat vått i våt, med fingrarna. Det blir levande då.


Här är en bild där jag har jobbat med raka ytor, skurna linjer. Det är skönt.


Den här målningen har jag publicerat tidigare. Jag ville göra lite djup i den, därför ser man strandkanten i förgrunden och sedan stadens profil i bakgrund. Lite surrealistiskt, kanske. Eller postmodernt där perspektiv och logik inte riktigt styr.

Den här bilden är 150x121. Ganska stor. Jag har jobbat med spackelspade och igen, våt i våt.


Nu är snart semestern slut. Målandet tar jag upp igen i augusti.