Colour and Abstraction

285 Pages·2015·58.79 MB·English

by  George Blacklock

Colour and Abstraction
GEORGE BLACKLOCK
THE CROWOOD PRESS
First published in 2015 by The Crowood Press Ltd
Ramsbury, Marlborough
Wiltshire SN8 2HR
www.crowood.com
This e-book first published in 2015
© George Blacklock 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this
book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 1 78500 032 4
Photography
All photographs of finished paintings by George Blacklock are courtesy of
Flowers Gallery; all photographs in the tinted section Media Tools and
Techniques in Chapter 5 are courtesy of Katherine Blacklock; all other
photographs of studies and images are by the artist.
Dedication
To George, Katie, Ruth, and Harry
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Matthew Flowers for his and the Flowers Gallery’s
support in this endeavour, most especially Juliette O’Leary, who was
fabulous. I would also like to thank my exceptionally talented daughter
Katie, who took the photographs in the section ‘Media, Tools and
Techniques’ in Chapter 5, and many others besides that we did not use.
Also all the Blacklock clan for their support. And the University of the Arts
London and Chelsea College of Arts in particular – especially the ever-
patient Alex Madjitey and Betty Borthwick.
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
1. The Picture Plane and Pictorial Space
2. Drawing into Abstraction
3. Landscape, Body and Mind
4. Systems, Grids, Fibonacci and Phi
5. Paint as Stuff
6. Working in Series – The Pietas
7. Gesture and the Theory of Joints
8. Transcription and Abstraction
9. The Use of Studies
10. Inhumanities and Humanities
11. Working Towards a Final Solution…?
Afterword
Index
Ancestral Voices 5. (Studio shot)
PREFACE
Thinking through Making
This book is not about getting you to paint like me, or even to think like
me. We are all gifted with our own thought patterns and spirit – these
manifest themselves in our personalities, and these differences are
rewarded in painting with what is often called our ‘style’. Even when we
try to adopt another style of making, we cannot help but make it our own,
so you don’t have to worry about creating your own style because we do
that naturally – it really is (either fortunately or not) our default position.
One of the truths about abstract painting is that intentions are often
compromised and frequently improved on, by the act of making. So it is
most important that you are both vigilant and persistent – these are the
most important qualities to have if you want to make successful paintings.
The thoughts and pictorial ideas I have when I start a painting become
enhanced by what I learn during it. I believe that if I do not learn, I don’t
make an interesting painting. Making paintings that simply demonstrate
what you know, may impress initially but real ideas are always about
what you have learned ‘on the journey’. It is important that you
concentrate your mind whilst painting so that you are ‘in the present’ and
not thinking about what you would like the painting to be like, or regretting
what it could have been like. Sometimes your inner mind, through its
familiar interaction with the materials (and this constant interaction with
the same kind of materials is an undoubted strength of painting),
overrules what is in the front of your mind. On every occasion I have
noticed this happening, it has always been for the better, and I have
learned, and thus improved, as a painter and an artist.
The irony of this is that repeating ‘what worked last time’ never seems
to work – so you adapt and move on. The fruit of your labours will attest
to the rigour of your learning. Paintings thus become the product of your