My Heart, My Hands and the Trip in Between

Another storytelling piece.  It’s filled with full intensity color, strong lights, strong darks and values in between.  The subject matter has a lot to do with my travels to Japan, Europe and North Africa.  The Medici portrait in the center and the reclining Pompeii figure are remnants of visuals from Europe.

The “Crane” or “Tancho” sometimes means longevity and/or immortality in Japan. The Crane is an ongoing image in Japanese art as well as the kimono patterns, in the upper right and middle left side.  Other subject matter include hearts, hands, calligraphy, stripes and other repeat patterns, as well as X’s, grills, drips and stains.

The composition rotates around the Medici figure.  From the lower left and the three red X’s up through the kimono pattern to the selected heart against the off-white grill pattern.  The Japanese calligraphy continues the movement down through the hand, crane, kimono patterns and black X- 36 80.  It then drops down to the silhouette hand and back around again.

On closer look, there are other elements that make up the total composition. That’s why it is important to sit down, or stand quietly and really contemplate a work of art.  It’s one way to learn how to see, see art.

One way to see the “basic composition”, is to squint your eyes, blurring out detail, leaving just the main contrasts and movements.  Can you see the directional movements that travel around the center of the painting?  That’s the “basic composition”.