A cautionary note

 

Just in time for our mega-stormy weather, officialdom has introduced colour codes for warnings posted by Weather Canada, the national meteorological service.  Their codes make total sense, a little like the colours of traffic lights. 

 

But, careful now!  We need to exercise caution towards yellow itself.  Like most colours, its symbolism varies with cultures, and yellow can have both positive (warm, cozy) and negative (warning, creepiness) associations.  And there are a gazillion tones of colour, too.  Here are just a few:--

 

Thinking about yellow in the midst of these chilling winds and rains, I've found myself thinking of…….hot buttered rum!  It sounds so comforting even though I've never had it, never even had rum that I can remember.  And then, as I've said before, my choice of alcohol (to give, not to drink) usually runs to funky labels.

 

Meanwhile, too, the human fly continues at work on the building to my north.  Yesterday, he (or a clone) worked all day, applying meticulous patchwork to that exterior wall.

 

I imagine some future tenant of the finished building, grateful for their own balcony on which they might enjoy a warm drink on a cold day.

 

That became my theme for yellow in the series of Spectral Figures, and I plunged right in.  Forgetting everything I'd previously resolved, I did a quick lay-in with little pre-planning.

 

Now, moving right along, the persona is taking shape.

 

But – he looks worried.

 

You'd be worried, too, if your face was too wrinkly, your head was too small, your cap was too big.  Where did this cap come from, anyway?  Was it left behind by some of the circus folk?

 

I was so tempted to call it quits, but it was all off-key.  Time was running out, and I didn't want this weirdo hanging about in my studio.  Then the long ago words of artist-teacher Richard Schmid seemed to offer the direction I was looking for: "Never leave a mistake on the canvas."   So – I hauled out my jar of gesso and whited out the worst of it.

 

Next, I painted separately a small head that seemed to be the right size, about 3" x 4" and with a better head to cap ratio!

 

Placed on the painting-in-progress, this seemed about right. 

 

Oh, I was again tempted to just glue the darn thing to the canvas and be done with it.  Bravely (if I do say so myself), I used the head as a rough guide for size and placement, and painted into the gessoed whiteness. 

 

And here we have it:  "Hot Drink on a Cold Balcony," Spectral Series, copyright 2025.

 

Now let's see what that master colourist Van Gogh has done with yellow in this painting of Armand Roulin, the son of Vincent's postman friend.

 

Coincidentally, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is having a lavish exhibit right now of Van Gogh and the Roulin Family and more.  I wish we could all be sitting quietly together in their café (they must have one), just letting it all sink in.

 

Instead – closer to home – we can await the new moon, and then the Solstice, and celebrate whatever activities the weather allows.

 

 

Where do these bright ideas come from?

I'm feeling wistful as I use the last old-fashioned lightbulb from the remaining box in a 20-year-old stash.  Wistful and a little anxious.  Whatever happened to the simple choice among 40-60-100 watt bulbs?  Now, when I shop for lightbulbs I'm confronted by racks upon racks of lights with incomprehensible shapes and dimensions.  Can "bright idea" be symbolized by flat-tops with no visible inner filaments?

 

I was equally perplexed as I worked to envision orange for the next in my series of Spectral Creatures.  First, there was a mysterious "fly on the wall" on the nearby building-in-progress that blocks part of my mountain view to the north.

 

Oh, it's a human fly – against an orange banner.  What was he doing??

 

Sleeping on the job?  Worksafe BC would not approve, even with the barely visible orange rope as a headrest.

 

As I fiddled with my camera settings, he righted himself and went on his way.

 

But the orange rope and banner were promising.  Next day in the studio, they nudged my attention toward my drawing from life posted on the wall just in my line of sight. I'd done this several years ago and just couldn't part with it – one of the two times I've had the opportunity to draw acrobats.

 

At that time, I'd done a little research and come across the famous Archange Tucarro (1535-1602) – professional Italian acrobat, tightrope walker, court jester and gymnastics instructor to young Charles IX of France.  He was so wily a performer that he has almost eluded an on-line presence!   His 400-page instruction manual still shows up in rare books sales:--

 

Only a few images of the original engravings, based on his woodcuts, can be found.  (I'd hoped Project Gutenberg would come through, but no such luck).  The first I spotted could almost have been a model for my model –

 

…and this led me to begin playing with a composition.

 

Then I found a second image on-line – the full picture of the stunt that's cropped for the "Trois Dialogues" book cover.  Rather amazing!

Wow!  I added a similar cropping to my sample composition and played some more.

 

And just at this time, when I was about to run away and join the circus, along came a book I'd requested from the library:

 

The author  relates his year studying circus history and arts in France, and here he comments on the very engraving that has captivated me:  (The Pascal he quotes is an eminent 21^st century acrobat/instructor – not the Pascal.) 

 

Well, this was all very fascinating – it still is, as I continue to read Wall's book.  Yet I was no closer to a spectral orange painting.  But……..next to the empty place on my bulletin board was another oldie of mine that I couldn't give up.

 

The creation of this face is described here.  It was inspired by a B.C. artist who our group saw in action on a 2023 art tour conducted by my friend L's gallery.  Scroll to the video and you'll get an idea of his spontaneous process.

 

SO:  That did it.  I decided to put the life drawing and the burning face back into near proximity and use orange with its colour wheel complement blue.  Underway:--

 

And here's the final version:  "Orange Flip – Spectral Series," copyright 2025.

 

Oh, but let's not forget the final step, just for the fun of it – finding a masterwork that features the same colour.  I think you'll have seen her before, and it looks like she's slept through it all.

 

To think that our colour wheel is just starting to roll!

 

Celebrate – Take Notice – Watch out!

 

 

"What's a 'red letter day?'" my 6-year-old self asked my mother, who of course knew all the important things and could tell me. (Now, I wonder if children are even introduced to paper calendars with this helpful code.)

 

The colour red can symbolize so many different things that it's only fitting it should launch the "Spectral Figures" series that I introduced last time.  For several years I had a practice of building my sketchbook with memory drawings from people sightings outside the neighbourhood.  I'd always tried to note and then to later record an example of a face, a pose, a costume – not necessarily from one person.  But then everyone started wearing black!

 

Too bad, but occasionally I'll still catch something – like this young woman's face.

 

I decided to dress her in red and omit the beret – which I used last time.  To warm up, I made a quick painted study of that sweet face.

 

I'd saved a pose from an old newspaper and thought it might work – a woman sitting on a white cushion in a white-walled room with window.

 

Almost as soon as I finished that preliminary phase, I realized I wasn't giving myself enough room to do much with the face – and tuning up faces and figures is one of the goals of the Spectral series.  After all, I was working on only 14 by 18 inches, and I'd need to scale the figure up to fit a larger head.

 

With a lot of back-and-forth (enlarging, diminishing, enlarging, diminishing), I arrived at a suitable size.  I'd never intended to leave the background white but opted for pale tones of green, the colour complement of red. 

 

I also considered using very dark green for the walls, with a deep grey-green storm cloud gathering in the window view.  Dramatic, yes...but, but….  

 

Better to quit while I'm ahead.  Here's the final version of "Red at First Blush" – Spectral Series, copyright 2025. 

 

Well…. Is this red?  Yes.  Is it interesting?  Not particularly.  This led me to go searching for what other artists who I like might have done with red prominent in their paintings of a figure.   Here's a find! – Paula Rego's portrait of Germaine Greer. 

 

I think I'll make this kind of comparison the final step in each of my paintings in this series.  There will surely be interesting surprises – like the wonders of a huge creamy white flower eventually emerging from the red bud of Magnolia grandiflora, radiant even in today's Vancouver rain.

 

 

 

Let's kick-start in neutral

 

Remember this gal?  She's the unidentified disrupter who, about this time two years ago, interrupted the launch of the Commedia series.  So, with a tip of the witch's hat, she's been appointed as the mascot for delayed starts and illogical titles.  (Can you actually kick-start in neutral gear?  Maybe – in old technology).

 

As I finished Summer Camp, at last dehydrated from looking at old sketchbooks, lessons, experimental techniques, I was taken with a formalized colour study I did years ago.

 

The objective was to place trade-name paints (my preferred Liquitex brand) in their proper places around the spectrum colour wheel, for which we can thank Newton.  For me, colour is the all of painting – so now what to do with it, here in the midst of ripe autumn which offers both the brilliant and the subdued.

 

I wanted to start a series that would take me back to figures and faces – perhaps a little more expressive than those I was seeing around me.

 

Then, reorganizing some computer files, I came across my list of "Series and Singulars" – titles to remind me of ideas I wanted to pursue.  There I'd noted "Spectral Creatures" --  YES!  Not eerie, not creepy, like Henry Fuseli's – but a series of interesting figures/faces in which a single colour predominates.

 

Now it happened that my friend Y, a skilled photographic artist settled in recent years in Budapest, had been sending me both colour-drenched and colour-drained photos from her daily excursions.  She was even among the half-dozen or more people I've talked with recently about "conkers" – ripened chestnut seeds.  (It seems there are two types of people -- either conker-lovers or conker-haters).    

 

These elements all came together to suggest the first in my series:  Y with her characteristic light tan coat, flowing light hair, her camera – and the conkers!  But what are the optics of starting my Spectral Creatures with neutral colours?  Never mind.  I enlisted an in-house model to hold the pose and got started.

 

 (Yes, she is holding the camera cord in her mouth to keep it out of the way -- all in the interests of art!)

 

Picking up abandoned techniques from times past, I did some simple preliminary plans.

 

 Then, on the prepared canvas board, I outlined the figure.

 

It didn't take many tube colours at all – and none are on the colour wheel.  So…not exactly as originally planned, here's the final version:  "Consider the Optics" (copyright 2025 , Spectral Series).

 

As I continue into a new painting year, I'm actively considering whether to reclaim or discard practices I once followed – like signing my work.  Watch this spot for what's to come next – At the Sign of the Octopus, where no two are alike.