Growth and Renewal

untitled, 30x20, oil on linen

“It is with art as it is with trees, constant growth and renewal. Seeking new forms of expression is a vital necessity for art. When art doesn’t put out new shoots, it is dead.” Birger Sandzen, 1913

With this quote in mind, here is a piece that shows something different for me. I have been digging through my old works lately and I am surprised by what I am finding. Lots of good work hidden below. It energized me. My roots are more graphic and flat before I opted to move to the more representational arena.

For this painting I used a photo my son had taken of some old buildings downtown Denver. Since the same rules apply in abstraction as they do in any other painting, I was not only thinking what colors to use but also what colors were in which value group. I was also thinking about repeating patterns using the 'windows' and architectural details to break up the bigger shapes whether they were there or not. The light group is used to help move the eye around.

Here is the image in B and W to illustrate the values and how the colors group.

untitled in B&W

If anyone has a brilliant idea for a title for this piece, I would be happy to hear it. I am stumped. Thank you in advance.