‘Of Oblique Incarnation.’ Oil on canvas, 37 x 27.5 inches (94 x 70cm). Progress and revisions.

‘Of Oblique Incarnation.’ Oil on canvas,
​37 x 27.5 inches (94 x 70cm).

'NN VII' Working title.

 It's been a while since I've actually put a blog post together. All the 'newness' that I wrote about in one of my most recent posts have been something of a distraction to my regular order. However I have been very busy with work, both in regards to brand 'newness', but I have also been revisiting works which had formerly not attain their full potential. It is of course not unusual for my paintings to take a long time to reach completion. One reason for this is that I am something of a perfectionist, as you would expect. The second reason is that I work on a large number paintings and sculptures at the same time. Works evolve and grow...slowly. 

One of these pieces when it was this in progress went by the working title 'NN VII', has now emerged reborn as ‘Of Oblique Incarnation.’ This piece has actually been on and off the easel for 2 years now and was always a little problematic. There was always a feeling of incompletion about it to me.  It was quite deliberate that the dark shape at the centre of the piece was intended to be suggestive of both  a 'presence' and a hole or absence of presence, I wanted this idea to hover somewhere between the two notions, but somehow it never felt quite right.

However new ideas and forms born from more recent pieces that I have been working on helped me to identify where the problem lay and decide on a solution, as I hope is apartent in the images above.  It is always delightful to finish any painting, but somehow helping this piece to finally find it's way into the light feels very special. And also justify the length of time the works sometimes take to find their voices both visually and conceptually.

Work in progress.

Original charcoal and chalk study.