SPIRIT OF ENDURING HOPE

2016 Leftovers & Palette Gremlins Week 47

Dec 21, 2024

A tiny female figure stands beneath a pair of tall, uneven evergreen trees rising off a rocky outcrop of shore. The sky is cloudy gray except for a warm band of dull orange defining the horizon. As tall as the massive trees, a monotone female figure floats nearby draped in cloth and holding out her hand. A ring of ginkgo leaves hovers nearby. Her hair is wild and wind tossed. The cloth covers only one shoulder exposing her other breast. Her knee is raised suggesting upward motion as if she is lifting off the shore. — SPIRIT OF ENDURING HOPE (2016), Acrylic on Mat Board - 12" x 9"

I turned a smear of paint on my drawing table cover into a tree. Other marks suggested rocks and became an island to which I added a figure. I started to paint in clouds but stopped because the image was getting boring.

It called for something else, but I didn't have a clue what. Cthulhu rising? A dragon?

Work in progress side by side with a tray containing a brush, cobalt paint, and a rag. The art has been smeared with the rag so the rough shape of the figure not yet rendered is taking shape. — Experimental marks in cobalt blue applied to work in progress

In search of further inspiration, I dropped a rag smeared with cobalt blue paint onto the scrap of matboard and took a quick shot of it with my phone.

I wasn't entirely happy with the mark the rag made, but I went ahead and painted what was suggested by the random mark, a floating female figure and a symbolic element composed of Gingko leaves in a circle.

Share The Art of Michael Whelan