The Fine Art Blog of Darren Daz Cox

The Inspirational Beam Oil paint on canvas, 24 by 36 inches by Darren Daz Cox.

This one was a random sketch with grease pencil directly on the canvas. I had a completely different painting planned out but I’ve found that when I trust my subconcious to work at it’s own pace, the end result is more satisfying.

I added a purply blue oil glaze over the sketch and because grease pencil disolves in paint thinner, the sketch started to melt away and give areas of shadow. The purple/blue paint has separated in some areas and you can see green in areas but this is just the first layer!

Other layers will finish the shadows and then I’ll add the highlights and then the color glazes, giving the painting a totally deep and atmospheric look similar to the way Leonardo Da Vinci used oil paints!

I love the work of Leonardo and Bob Ross for that matter but the idea of working from the background to the foreground isn’t that important to me, I do want the illusion of depth, but not the type of depth you see when you look out your window onto happy trees, but the fake depth you experience in dreams.

The composition will have a dynamic beam of gold coming out of a turbulant sky illuminating the figure that represents us all, consider the girl a spokesmodel for the viewer rather than a representation of a particular person or a ‘fertility goddess’.

The foreground complexity leading towards the circle in the upper left corner will be an organic ‘more is more’  motif to show the material substance we often believe is the only reality while the clouds will represent potential reality.

The alien looking creature sitting looking down is the representation of how we have personalized spirituality, consider him a spokemodel for ‘name brand’ celebrity spiritual leaders. I make no judgement on who you pray to, just that you might feel the need to think that you are somehow separate from the divine, less significant than the universe and merely reacting to this material world rather than creating it as you go. It’s a whole different paradigm when you dream though isn’t it!

The circle at the top will be gold like the beam, indicating that inspiration is divinely sent and as a motif, an homage to my classical tradition ancestors who depicted the divine with gold halos. I do not wish to invent a new style of art as if the art of the past was somehow irrelevant or stale, it isn’t. I do wish to find my own style within the genre though.

The circle at the bottom will be a vignette, perhaps a cat frolicing in the grass on a sunny day, as we should never lose sight of the simple pleasures as appreciating those moments is basically the meaning of life. Inspire, be inspired and appreciate, as Dannion Brinkley says, is the meaning of life in a nutshell, and he should have a little insight considering how many times he’s died and come back!

My friend ‘Diva’ Dave Omega was amused that some of my tattoos are upside down (because they are for me to look at rather than to be decoration for others to look at) but art is for the artist first I believe, and while this canvas will be finished eventually and perhaps decorate a wall somewhere, the magic is in the process as this is not planned out and having not sold a single canvas in my 20 years since i started college as an art student, I do not cater to the whims of anyone but myself. I am the client, I am the Medici who is giving free reign to creative potential I have faith is inside me. The best musicians, like Dave, write songs for themselves first and then share them with us if we are lucky!

here’s a pic I drew for Dave Omega!

Originally posted 2008-11-16 22:16:40. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Tweet This Post Buzz This Post Delicious Digg This Post Facebook MySpace Ping This Post Reddit Stumble This Post

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.