Hey guys, today I'm really excited to share that I have officially completed my first ever abstract painting collection!!! It's titled Beautiful Decay and I've been working on it for about 6 months. And while I've completed many individual paintings and some that had similar themes, this time I really pushed myself to to do a larger group that had the same theme, color palette, and told a story.
So I wanted to give you guys a glimpse at the paintings and tell you a bit of the story behind them.
I started this series around January/February 2020. When I began I never intended to make a collection and I didn't have a definite theme. But since these pieces spanned both before and during quarantine for Covid-19, it really affected the final outcome. Inspired by the feelings of anxiety and confusion brought by this pandemic, the story of this collection centered around a civilization going through the stages of turmoil, collapse and decay. There are 12 paintings in this collection and the story they tell goes through a natural progression, starting with "Before the Storm" and ending with "Dissolve".
I used texture in many of these pieces like I do with most of my art but this time I specifically wanted to emphasize a look of time wearing away at this once great empire. You can see this most directly in the four paintings title Layered Disuse I - IV. The look of abandoned buildings left to slowly chip away layer by layer until there was nothing left.
The color palette I chose came together slowly through much experimentation. Consisting of Phthalo Blue (Green Shade), Quinacridone Violet, Pale Terracotta, Powder Blue, and N5 Neutral Grey. I initially was using Phthalo and Violet in previous work so I already knew I liked them together. Then I purchased Terracotta and Powder Blue on a whim at the art store. I slowly began used the Violet, Terracotta and Powder Blue together to create a few pieces and loved how they played off of each other. When I added back Phthalo Blue it gave the pieces that punch of rich, cool-toned color that the palette was missing. I lastly began adding neutral grey to balance out all these showstopping colors. The color palette is really what added the beauty to the Beautiful Decay collection. I loved the idea of having these wonderfully harmonious colors that convey something much darker.
I also completed my first large scale piece for this collection titled Dissolve. It is a 30 x 40 inch piece and it really challenged me. Normally I am used to painting on small and medium sized canvases and so relating this idea to a large canvas was a struggle for me at first. I started by painting intuitively and letting the paint and canvas guide me on what to do. Once the dust settled I saw some distinct shapes in the chaos, specifically that of a city. From their I used my theme and refined it to get this finished painting! I wanted the largest painting of the series to have the most impact not just in size but in subject. It is the culmination of the story and depicts the fading of the civilization into history.
So without further ado, here the whole collection in thematic order!
Layered Disuse I - IV
I hope you enjoyed getting a little glimpse into my art process and the "Beautiful Decay" Collection. These pieces are now available to purchase, check them out here! I hope to have prints of some of these pieces available soon as well and I will keep you posted for when that happens!
What do you guys think of the collection? Do you have a favorite piece?
If you have painted collections I'd love to know how your first collection went and what the experience was like? Tell me in the comments!
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