09 January 2010

Something In Common

oil on stitched canvas
56 x 62"

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was just looking back at your post and as soon as I passed this painting the first thing that popped in my mind was a tale of two cities. That's what this makes me feel. Two cities conversing, people exchanging, things going on. I have lots of favorites with your work but this is really high on the list.
-Cina

Verna Vogel said...

Thanks Cina!
It's so great to hear when my work makes people think and see things, maybe different things than I see when I look at it.

Now your comment has got me thinking more about this work...

With this painting I was trying something a little different with the space - first of all putting warm colours in the background and cooler colours in the fore. This is opposite to tradition because usually as things recede in the distance they become cooler and greyer, and warm colours tend to come forward.

Then I put some dense, dark shapes close to the top, which also shouldn't work in terms of creating a depth of atmosphere - higher contrast usually equals closer objects.

So I think this is a pretty interesting painting for those reasons: it really shouldn't work visually, but lo and behold I seem to have pulled it off!

And I think this "technique of the opposites" contributes an interesting tension, or dialogue, in the piece.

Thanks again for getting me thinking about it!
:)