As my exploration of the Void/Sublime continues I am constantly worried by any potential figurative nature with I allow to enter the painted spaces. Presently I am experimenting with simple, although still anthropomorphic forms, human figures and monoliths, or rather the shadows, or more accurately, the perturbations which they cast into the Void. However the extremities which such forms exhibit still feel uncomfortable to me. I have therefore began work on sketches for a new painting, with the same derivation but with what I hope will embody more infinite properties. 

Oil painting by subtraction.

'In Friedrich's landscape painting, rather than obscure the sense of infinity, the clouds and fog intensify the troubling awesomeness of the Void. The dark skies also reflect his moodiness. On one level, Friedrich's paintings are mindscapes that mirror his psychic condition and his spiritual yearning for union with the infinite, not landscapes that solely mirror nature.' (Levy M. 2005 'Void' p.88)

'The Constant Library',  Volume XXXI: "The Consolations of Philosophy, Alain de Botton".

"The idea for 'The Constant Library' follows on from a recent conversation considering which books had, and continue to have, the greatest affect my life in a variety of different ways. These are the books I can't live without and whenever possible I have a copy of with me wherever I travel in the world; my 'Constant Library."

If you only ever read one book about philosophy  this should be the one. It could easily be retitled 'The Really Useful  Book of Philosophy', as de Botton's approach to the subject is not only good humoured but also practical. He takes when can be for many people an intractable subject and presents it in a way that whilst it is both witty and  educational, is more importantly a user-friendly, allowing access to the subject in such a way as to make it to be a genuine 'consolation' in our 21st century world. 

And so the task of working with very dark coloured oil paints, Prussian Blue in this case, on a Near-Black  ground begins in earnest!

Now that the near-black ground has dried on this painting I am able to begin building the colour structure onto this foundation. I have decided to continue along with the notion of treating this piece like a reverse watercolour in that starting from my near-black  I will proceed to build up colour in oils traveling from darkest to lightest. But first I need to sketch it out, charcoal on near-black, so only visible to the camera at this angle. 

This might not be perhaps the most interesting post to the casual observer but I'm excited about it. Today I have started for on, what I calling for now, 'Perturbations II: Casting Shadows Within the Void.'; I love the first version of this painting  (below) but I really want to take this idea of 'just painting the void (the sublime)' to another level.  In the first version of this piece I worked just with yellow ochre oil paint over a black acrylic ground, which did work really well, but I was a little frustrated by both the fact that it used the black acrylic ground and the lack of potential colour in the piece.

This piece is intended to rectify both of those problems first by creating a 'positive' ground of my traditional 'near black' oil paint to begin with; the whole canvas being grounded with this in place of the black acrylic ground. thus allowing me to paint the void leaving the 'perturbations' in near black. oil I will also bring more tones and colours into  the painting of the void,  with the intention of hopefully giving it even more infinite depth.