"Heart Of Darkness." Joseph Conrad's book is something I've repeatedly visited over my high school and college years. In high school, I did a triptych of 24"x36" oil paintings that garnered me an award or two. If I manage to get back to my high school (where the paintings hang to this day), I will be sure to take a decent picture. For now, you'll be stuck with this piece which I did during my senior year in college. Sometime in fall of 1997. It's in oil on primed illustration board and measures 9.5"x16". It was done in a few nights.
About this time, I really started to fall in love with a secondary color palette. To this day, I have a soft spot for orange, green, and violet. A lot of my love for the color scheme was based on the success I felt I had with this piece and one other (which has since been damaged pretty severely). I did several more, but found out the hard way that a secondary palette isn't always appropriate for every piece.
If I recall, this was the only piece that was even remotely usable for my portfolio after college that wasn't produced in my last semester or after graduation. Even so, it wasn't always in my portfolio, which changed greatly depending on who I was showing my work to. That being said, I didn't get any jobs with the body of work that I'd produced in school or shortly thereafter. Part of it may have been poor self-promotion, but I really believe that it was mostly because the work wasn't ready.
this is very good! what from the book inspired you to paint this?
ReplyDeleteI don't know. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. It was all about the journey, and I wanted it to feel hot and foreboding. I've read the book several times and it's always been one that stuck with me.
ReplyDeletesb
gotcha! we are studying it in ap lit and have to find artwork that connects to the book and i think this is will be great!
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