Chiaroscuro is an Italian term for "light-dark" according to Wikipedia. Stylistically, I find its use compelling in both painting and photography. My earliest recollection of its dramatic, stylistic use was in the Kool Jazz Festival advertising in the 1980s. I enjoyed the images so much that I started my first clip art collection by saving the magazine pages for inspiration years and moons ago.
I have some ideas for about three or four paintings which involve straw hats and happened across a vintage reproduction print of Thomas Sully's The Torn Hat recently. Although it was relatively inexpensive, I wrestled with its purchase because the reproduction was relatively low fidelity but it appealed to me and I acquired it not with an intent to frame it for my walls but rather to use it as a model for my own painting and interpretation. I could have referenced a web-based image but I didn't. I chose not to conduct any further research on the original nor about Sully nor view any other copies on the Web prior to my rendition. Incidentally, the original is at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston so I should have a chance to go see it in the near future in their collection. This past fall, I set the easel up outside shortly after bringing the reproduction home and completed my perspective. I also appreciated the opportunity to strengthen the blue and yellow values which reach into my appreciation for the Van Gogh genre.
Souvenir Art: Sully's Torn Hat Copyright James E. Martin 2011
It's my first portrait. At the Beginning, the canvas was without Form and Void and Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep. General swaths to establish lines, scale, and proportions...sketching with paint. Paint further applied to canvas to establish general tones and...behold.... Light separates the Darkness. We have a Reason to select What to do and Why and Where and How and Who. Something that attracts us or wells up within us from who we are and where we have been before. We must start somewhere in the creative act. At the Beginning is probably a good place to start and each of us comes to our Understanding of the Impetus and Our Imperative in a different way and manner. We are on the road. It's not easy to steer a parked car so moving forward is a good momentum.
I have always been intrigued through observation that a realistic flesh color value involves both the rosy pink of vital, underlying bloodflow with the Energy of one's Life Force and the pale grey of Death on the margins. I was able to experiment with that in this depiction. Depending on the aspect angle of vitality, we are moments from the Abyss. To me at this time, it reflects Living the Moment and the fragile, transparent interface between the philosophical Life and Death. But far apart from mere philosophy and rhetoric, we live or we die in the moment. Lightness or Darkness. We are influenced by the others that have gone before us or by the Artifacts that other Artists of Originality have left to stir our Souls and our Spirit. Their Artifacts leave an Impression on us in different and manifold ways. We have Freedom to do and create to our heart's content. If we choose not to do, our own Darkness remains upon the Face of the Deep.
There is something in the Artist that compels us to Create. It is a still, quiet Voice that demands to be heard and requires the application of Life Force and Energy to be applied towards the Journey resulting in the Artifact. Each Artifact says something about the Artist. But each Artifact is only part of the Creative Pursuit, a brief sojourn in the Artistic Endeavor, and a partial understanding of Self. And sometimes Serendipity influences what happens on the Path towards our Unique Potential.
But it seems fairly straightforward to me that the Light separates the Darkness. It's a grand scheme.
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