Essence series - more

Buck
Doe
Duck (Mallard)

Essence series - more

Irish Setter
Rhino

Thoughts on the "Essences" Series

For those of you who have known me and my art for awhile, or have looked at the history of my work, you will have seen a trend away from photorealism and detail across the entire painting to a more expressive and focussed appraoch. I attribute this to a number of things, none of which can be attributed to failing eyesite! LOL.

One is that I have learned a lot about animals over the course of my life, and I no longer need to learn about them through painting every hair. The spirit of the subject must prevail, as well as the entire composition being more than the sum of its individaully detailed parts. Another is the fact that photography is an art form unto itself - why paint something like a photograph when you can just take a photograph of it?! I also love impressionist and plein air (on location) landscapes, the approach to which I have been applying to my wildlife pieces, with details only in the center of interest - just as the human eye actually sees.

The "Essences" series is a distillation of the above approach. It takes a subject and strips it to the barest of what contstitutes it. I am having fun with "testing" it on my children, who must correctly identify the animal before I call it a successful "essence"! When I am ready to post it on my website, www.keena.ca, I will provide a key so you can see if you "got it right".

Say, what do you think of these for tattoos? Logos? Let me know what you think.

Yours in art,
Keena

New Work - Calligraphy Wildlife

It's been a long time since my last post. In the intervening time, I have moved! (What a surprise!). This time though it is to a beautiful rural acreage on the outskirts of Vanderhoof.

On to the new art...

"As I grew older , I realized that it was much better to insist on the genuine forms of nature, for simplicity is the greatest adornment of art." (Albrecht Durer).

I come from a background of highly detailed wildlife painting. In order to capture the animal and learn its mysteries, I had painted every hair. But I came to realize that there is no mystery in it, no life. There is nothing that engages the viewer, or the painter, except to say that it looks like a photograph, or comment on how much patience the artist has. Over the course of my career in art I have more strongly embraced the ideas that "minute and elaborately finished pictures never strongly impress the mind, and are but mere curiosities..." (Samuel Prout)."...if you are simple, you will stimulate the imagination of the observer." (Ugo Mochi). How much can you strip down a subject and still have it remain true to the subject? Thus began my explorations in the question of what constitutes the "essence" of the subject, its spirit. Here are a sampling of my answers:





I call this my "Essences" series. Definition from the American Heritage Dictionary:
es·sence (sns) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. The intrinsic or indispensable properties that serve to characterize or identify something.
2. The most important ingredient; the crucial element.
3. The inherent, unchanging nature of a thing or class of things.
4. 1. An extract that has the fundamental properties of a substance in concentrated form.
   2. Such an extract in a solution of alcohol.
   3. A perfume or scent.
5. One that has or shows an abundance of a quality as if highly concentrated: a neighbor who is the essence of hospitality.
6. Something that exists, especially a spiritual or incorporeal entity.

This is a series, and will eventually incorporate subjects that are not animals and, it goes without saying, that I have not given up my usual style of painting.

As always, I'd be happy to know what you think! You will also be able to see the whole series on my website very soon.

Cheers!
Keena