'Pier'

'Pier'   60x40cms

A continuation of the idea of 'surge', this painting has a rawness and dynamism rare in my work. That sea is an irresistible force, the orange pier frail and overwhelmed...... The canvas-divide provides the only point of stability in the piece....Fast marks/fast thinking.... Fast paint, a twisting, surging, writhing mass...uncontrollable..Tension: the dark blue line visually holds the paint but will it physically hold the paint?   Already a fat piece of blue slid off while I was watching the football...

detail

The beginning, (1) was too static the frozen moment akin to a photograph,  The second canvas was added (2) to diminish the scale of the structure and enlarge the 'surge'. These are my daughter Faye's colours -using her leftover paint- but the canvas a perfect match. The last act was to open up the painting more by taking out the downward movement of the heavy blue line on the bottom left edge

'Pier' is a very personal motif, in my life and in my art. The title is a kind of tribute to Mondrian's wonderful 'Pier and Ocean (Composition No.10)'. and I was secretly thrilled when Janie  said 'where's the pier?' when I told her the title. This of course is a common reaction when seeing Mondrian's painting for the first time! If you know Porthleven you may recognise the pier with its' distinctive kink - here the crisp line leads the eye back into the painting, and forms the tip of the diamond-shape. 

'Pier and Ocean (Composition No.10'   Piet Mondrian

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