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I still use the crosshatching technique I learned at school . It has an energy that reminds me of stone carving and I approach it in a similar way. Although the stone or marble carving process is different in the sense it is reductive it still has an aspect which is akin to modelling and refining with chisels.
The painted surface is its own universe. I pour my life into it, gather my life on to it. I wanted to paint in the picture a whole that shows everything at once, every thought, all time, every cause and effect. Each brushstroke is a thought that relates to all the others in one gestalt. In eastern philosophy there is the idea of Indras…
I’m using other people’s references right now and this is from Howard Lyon. I’m very grateful that he has provided such a good resource for artists, at reasonable prices. Selecting images among the ones I bought is painstaking and it’s difficult to say exactly why I choose specific images. From 1000 images there are a handful I can use. He has created albums with…
Schrödinger spoke about life being a kind of negative entropy and this is close to the Buddhist idea of life force that brings parts together to form a whole which is life. Buddhism says it is possible to fuse our microcosmic life with the macrocosm. And the opposite of this positive force would be entropy. Of course everything is subject to the law of…
How can I convey the beauty of the human form? Sometimes I hold up my hand close to my eye so that I can see it out of focus and stillhouetted , and look at my little finger. A finger is a beautiful thing. I’m using mine as an example that stands for all the rest. I’m not looking here to describe what the…
This was the first pencil drawing I have done in a while and have never worked it to such a finish. Although a closer look reveals the shading and cross hatching is still visible. The process of shading , as I’ve done here, is reminiscent of stone carving with a claw chisel. The forms are revealed by repeatedly building up layers, as if focusing…
I love drawing and painting the human figure. I see these paintings as sculptures though really, they are prequels to carvings. I am wary of interpretation with these paintings. For me, in and of themselves they show the beautiful symmetry of the human form as it reflects the macrocosmic universe.
Photography never does justice to painting so I would like to qualify this image by saying it’s better in real life. Since the summer I have been revisiting earlier styles of painting, ones that predate this blog..! Using mixed media with a lot of wiping out and redrawing. I didn’t think I would paint like this again, but themes that run through all my…
I’m struggling to get a good image of this painting, but these should give a general idea. The one of the painting on the wall is closer to the actual colours and also gives a sense of the painting in the round. Its 30cmx30cm. I dismissed painting a portrait in this style for ages and didn’t think it would be worth trying. I have…
Here the change from light to shade, and the kaleidoscopic colours that result across the hills on Dartmoor in typical English weather. I loved painting the blues and deep violets against the ochres and umbers in the shadows. I love colour! That’s why I love painting. This is all painted in a looser style than my pointillist paintings, and I feel more comfortable painting…
Hi there I wrote this for a presentation as part of a show recently, so I thought I would put it up here I spend a lot of time in the local landscape, especially Dartmoor. The landscape here is always changing and the main subject of my paintings is the depiction of this changing light and weather, and how the landscape can look so…
This is the result of the first go at this painting of beautiful Dartmoor. I will definitely give it a glaze but its nice to have a record of this stage. The important thing is not to overdo it! Like Pisarro I have been trying to ‘escape the dot’, and am relishing a return to a more open painterly style.
The British landscape. Living in south west England means I spend a lot of time in the local landscape, especially on Dartmoor, a beautiful ancient landscape in all seasons, where everything is always changing. The subject of my paintings is this change itself, the depiction of this changing light, and how the landscape can look so different through the seasons, the time of day,…
I’ve been on a journey this year, as has everyone else. In the studio I have started painting landscapes again, and my artistic journey, with many twists and turns and uneven paths, has led me to a series of pointillist landscape paintings. It ties many different strands in my work, but I think the main reason this style suits me for the moment is…
matt harvey art 