Mother and Child

Mother and Child sketch

This started life as an abstract sketch with colored pencil that had some Cubist/Futurist styling. I did intend to turn the sketch into a painting. This was at a time when I had done a couple of other cubist experiments. I didn’t intend for this to have a subject, but after I drew the colored pencil sketch I could see that it definitely suggested a traditional Madonna and child, so I went with that. I really like the result of the sketch, but when I started doing the painting it went down more of an expressionist path and became more grey. I didn’t start out to do this, but it seemed the right direction. Expressionist and abstract art can take on a life of their own and lead the artist, rather than the artist being in control. That is what happened with these. So the oil painting has an entirely different feel from the sketch, more harsh and negative in feel and texture.

This is not the sort of style I normally do, but I did like to experiment and try things outside of my normal type of work. I don’t like expressionism in my work because art for me is an escape. I don’t care to put my feelings on display for the world. This should not be taken as any real expression of my inner self, but rather an experiment in technique.