Inspirational Work

I stumbled upon this Smoke drawing from Edie Nadelhaft while reading the blog Two Coats of Paint.

My natural persuasión to surrealist ideals immediately began projecting and morphing the smoke into figures of weightless dancers floating through space (also a project that I have been developing for some time).  A few years ago I made some digital drawings where I took images of dancers captured in acrobatic poses and liquified them, giving similar results to the drawing above. But the inherent context of weight that liquid carries, and gave to the image, always gave me a contradictory and unsatisfying conclusion.

Draft: Liquified dancers. by Colin Hoisington

I went to the artist Edie Nadelhaft's webpage and read this small excerpt:

 "Until recently, my work has been very heavy (see above). With Smoke, a new series of drawings, I employ light materials (paper, pencil) to describe a weightless subject (smoke) in delicate lines and soft shades of muted color. As in my paintings, the materials underscore the subject matter in these works which explore the more transient, ethereal aspects of existence."

The heaviness in my work is also very apparent and lately somewhat concerning. This has led to a recent fascination and attempt to capture scenic photographs of fog, clouds, steam and evaporation. To my delight I have found it impossible to capture its magnificent subtlety, smoothness, and delicacy with a camera, thus giving me the perfect excuse to express it through paint.

The image above has revived a dormant and marinating idea that just needed a small push. "Don't liquify the dancer's,,,,,,, free them into the atmosphere!"

Draft 2: Liquified dancers now evaporated, by Colin Hoisington

By playing with opacities, blurs, and overlays, I was able to give the image a lighter feeling. The next step is to use the image as a reference and then paint it. I believe with very soft layers of translucent paint, the effect can be enhanced incredibly.

Also interesting was when I overlayed the smoke drawing on top.

Draft 3: Evaporated dancers overlayed with smoke drawing

The image becomes much more fluid again, but also too much noise,,,,,it has lost its sense of peace. The key will be in the process of painting the image.  Where I will be able to decide what elements to keep and enhance and what elements to fade or eliminate.