MY CREATIVE LEAP
Currently on the easel in my studio. © 2017 David Limrite
“If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself.”
Rollo May, Psychologist
My Creative Leap
Many people have started asking me about my transition from creating representational figurative paintings to creating pieces inspired by abstraction. Well…
I have been working from and with the figure all of my adult creative life. The figure just fascinates me on so many levels. I have slowly over the last couple of years started becoming less interested in depicting it representationally and more interested in the figure's ability to convey emotions. The work began to take on a more expressionistic vibe.
This new interest, along with a growing interest in suggesting movement, changed the way I started drawing and applying paint. The work became looser as I tried to inject my emotions and feelings into the work.
I also became interested in the idea of “reveal and conceal”, which allowed me to hide parts of the figure and force the viewer to have to work a bit harder to find and decipher these parts. I found that the viewer began to invest more of themselves into the paintings.
Then, about a year or so ago, something interesting began to happen. I started becoming more and more interested in other things besides or actually, in addition to, the figure. Currently, the figure is still in the paintings and continues to inspire them. It’s just that now the figure is not necessarily the most important element in the painting, or the first thing that you see.
I began to become more fascinated by the shapes that are suggested and created by the figure, as well as, the shapes that work against the figure or interrupt it. I have also become more interested in applying the paint and watching what happens as I do.
And I have become much more interested in figure/ground integration. This involves the merging of the figure and the background. Colors, shapes, textures and values, both on the figure and in the background, co-mingle with each other.
- Where does the figure begin and end?
- Where does the background begin and end?
- And what happens to the edge at the point where they meet?
This new direction is most definitely a work in progress. I am most certainly in a transition. And I am learning.
I hope this helps explain what has been happening to the work that you have been seeing in this blog lately.
Best,
David
[NEW ONE-DAY WORKSHOPS]
INT/ADV MIXED MEDIA FIGURE DRAWING & PAINTING
(AT MY PRIVATE STUDIO | ATASCADERO, CA)
(San Luis Obispo County)
October, November, December | One-Day, 10am - 4pm | My Private Studio | Click for info
I am pleased to announce that I will begin scheduling one-day workshops at my studio in Atascadero, CA. I'd love for you to join me.
Let's begin by discovering good time slots that work with your schedule. + CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS.
