Fire Paintings
The Fire Paintings were inspired by a desire to go deeper into my self in some way, perhaps as if in a dream, working from my imagination and hoping for as much spontaneity and visual grandeur as possible.
As for Grandeur, I was thinking of William Turner’s paintings of the Burning of the House of Lords. I could imagine him, as is reported, taking a sketchbook and doing observational drawings of the disaster unfolding through the night, even managing to rent a boat to get closer to his subject.
For the sake of the liberationI I was seeking I established a simple motif in advance for all the paintings.
The lower third of the painting was reserved for the flickering fire light and elongated shadows in and around a pile of both recognizable and ambiguous human made objects that may have contributed to our quality of life. Perhaps a favorite tool, once loved in a lifetime of someone’s work, or discarded equipment that once served a purpose along with disposable objects piled together.
The rest of the canvas would be dedicated to the play of light, hopefully compelling in its beauty, as it illuminated the ashes rising upward from the ruins and dispersed itself into the local environment.
