Saturday, October 23, 2010

Auroras of Autumn


I haven't seen an aurora in a long time, but they sure are lovely. And it's a way to use a color which almost never occurs in nature, namely that pale green I like to call "Aurora Green." Some minerals are that color, and Luna moths, and probably many sea creatures, but the Aurora makes it luminous. I borrow the title from a long set of poems by my favorite American poet, Wallace Stevens. This one was painted with airbrush and is another attempt at portraying auroras if they were in space, not in an atmosphere. I think with the right conditions it could happen. Besides, "Cosmic Aurora" sounds nice as a title. Painting is acrylic on illustration board, the usual.

If you zoom in on this little painting, you can excerpt out places which are just color fades and sprinkled bright spots. It's grainy, but that's part of the texture. It looks like, uh, "real" modern art such as that of Jules Olitski (link is old, and the artist has gone on to the abstract Beyond, but it's the best I could find).

But it isn't "real modern art," 'cause it doesn't have that social message and rough ugliness that current art needs to have to be considered art. They criticized Olitski for painting too pretty, too.



Meanwhile, I will be going on another of my trips to New England for parent care and relative visits. Rather than interrupt the By-Product altogether, I will try to keep posting, with images I can make when I have the time. Wish me luck.

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