Creation of the MoonOwlith, a triad in four parts

Moonfolk creating a new moonowlith.
The tetrahedron in the hand of the right moon being seeming almost arcane, shifting in multiple dimensions.
The moonowlith illuminating the rest of the scene as you can see the dome closed around it.

This trilogy of paintings in four pieces is made on canvas,
special hinges allow the paintings to be seperated or even placed in a light curve.


This was the big piece I've been working on since I heard I had
an extra 4 meters to fill at my exposition.
Yet to be honest, since the last year of my art academy I have been designing this work.
And from that time till last summer I've been thinking about what material, what canvas to paint it on.

I've made small designs on mdf panel, even made a few small puzzle pieces of them. Yet for a big work, wooden panels usually do not work.
Yet frames for canvas won't work in such extreme angeles, especially the fourth piece is practically impossible.

I did find some frame pieces that could meet this challenge.
And though I couldn't find the previous store I got a few sample frames from anymore, I did find another store that had them.

So I spend weeks putting sawing the frames in the right size,
as you can see in a previous blog post, I even had to adjust my sawblade setup for such extreme angles, yet I made it work!

Wrapping the canvas around was actually the easiest part,
then came the slow process of applying thin layers of canvas.
And since it was a bigger piece, I used a bit thicker, tougher canvas.
This required more layers to get a nice smooth surface.

And a few taps here and there.
Also around this time I decided it needed hinges to connect the pieces.


Not just simple hinges, because that would permanently bind the pieces together.
I designed it to be playful, to be able to arranged, put together, not to be a static piece.

Thus I needed paumelle hinges, I believe in English they call it Hedgehog?

This allowed one to put them together into one piece and even place it on a table instead of hanging it on a wall as a free standing piece.
Or take them apart and put them on the wall individually. As the puzzle it was intended to be.

Of course, the scary thing was that I had to drill holes into the frames I just spend weeks fitting.

Luckily it worked out well after finding some hand drill and the right dremel drill.

Though a bit of smoke came from the hole, luckily it neither break or burn.

After that just more patience was needed in applying the first grey base coat of oilpaint layers and let it dry. Sketching and painting after was quite straight forward.

And some images of it standing on a black glass table and at the actual exposition.

And as you see, the hinges can bend both ways, thus creation many possibilities for displaying it.

Trygometric Cycle aka The Case for the increase of efficiency of the powersource through shifting the subject into a more relaxed state.

This work's working title was a little too big, and also yet to truly decide on it.
Yet it does describe the scene.

It is the cold rational scientific discussion in which the 'Philospher' moon being, the one with the long dress, proposes to the 'Scientist' that the emotional state might have a connection to the energy output.

They, the moon beings draw their energy from their 'Gods' beings which they discovered looking into different dimensions and energy frequencies. For a rational being like the folk from the moon, such a potent being has potential, not to worship, but to use as a power source.

The two classes you see here are the 'Scientist' and the 'Philosopher'.
Scientists are but observers, they study and observe, to find and gather more information.
The philosophers are the class that actually 'invent', they are the least 'rational' and the most open minded.

Within a triangle a circular interior.
The true name of this vision:
The Case of the connection between energetic output
and the emotional state of the MoonOwlith.

As one being observers the other explains the rather new idea of emotions influencing the being.
And how it under less stressful circumstances it might produce a more stable and constant flow of energy.

The well-being of another creature considered,
not out of compassion but out of efficiency.






The frame was quite interesting to make yet possible. It was a preparation for the more complex frames for the 'Creation of the MoonOwlith" scene.

After that it was making a master sketch while also applying a lot of layers of gesso to get a smooth surface and then applying a few layers of grey oil paint before making a grid and sketch.

Then after that the lineart, it was not perfect yet good enough to get a general feeling how what to paint where so it wasn't as hard to paint over it.


 
After the lineart I first put down the base shadings and after that slowly but surely the painting came together.

First quickly then as the painting progresses it slows down and will be a lot of looking and just a few brush strokes here and there until I felt it was complete.

With this painting I had the idea my brush strokes became freeër, almost expressionistic/ Rembrandesque.


As if I saw the painting in front of me and was painting a model instead of constructing it.

 

Cycladian Meditation

Cycladian Meditation

A being as seen on my other paintings, now in a meditative pose, seemingly floating in front of a black triangular hole. It has unwrapped its pants and seems to be pulling out and inspecting the wires in it.
What at first seems to be a spiritual meditation is after all just a routine inspection of its gear and cables.

The description with the painting:

"The Circle frames the triangle,
the being appears to be meditating.
Yet with a closer look,
it might just be tinkering with its wired interface."

And of course, I have made some pictures of how this painting came to be.

As you see, I first made a 'master sketch' with grid which 'matches' sort of the grid on the canvas.
This makes it easier to get the proportions right.

Of course each drawing, each painting, no matter how similar you try to make it, will be a little different. And after such a rigid sketch I do give myself the freedom to adjust.

 

The Lineart went well, it was actually quite hard  to take the next step. Because it meant destroying the lineart to make the painting. 

But you got to kill your darlings, they say.

 

After the destruction and covering of the sketch and filling in colours and shading the more pleasant process of filling in a few highlights, shading and minor corrections begin. 

And finally the signing when I feel the picture has been finished.