Pastel over Mineral Spirits Underpainting
I would like to share a quote from my wise and wonderful mentor Richard McKinley, for my painting, The Tides of Humanity.
“When I look at the painting, I see you Kim – The creative soul looking into the vastness of the open sea of artistic possibilities, feet grounded in the shifting sands of mankind’s earth being washed and caressed by an ocean of something more.”
– Richard McKinley
~ Kim NovaK, Artist
Pastel over Watercolor
The original of this piece was commissioned by Turner Classic Movies as part of their 20th anniversary celebration and was exhibited at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel during the 5th Annual TCM Classic Movie Festival.
“Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film, Vertigo, is the story of a man’s obsession with an unattainable love, a woman who doesn’t exist. Twice in the course of the film, she is transformed into the object of a man’s compulsive desires; first in order to carry out an evil plot of another’s greed, then in order to have a second chance to recapture and reincarnate what he believes he’s lost in order to save himself.
“I painted the blonde hair of the fantasy object of desire, Madeleine, as it begins to unravel from its core, creating a vortex of delusion. As Madeleine’s impostor, Judy submits again to being made over in the image of obsession, this time in return for love, not money. This reality proves unsustainable; her facade begins to crack, mistakes are made that set in motion a storm, which irrevocably threatened everything in its blonde, illusory path.”
Pastel over Watercolor Underpainting
“When I’m not sure what I want to paint, I rely on my underpainting to give me inspiration. It excites my senses to watch the colors flow to and fro as I move the surface. It satisfies my desire for freedom. I often make a game of it to decide where I want to go next. Like when I was a child playing with a ouija board, using unconscious thoughts and feelings to guide your hands and fingers – so I did that with this painting. First it led me to a waterfall which you can still see, especially on the upper right side of my painting; then the water parted and it led me to her – a lovely young girl looking back at me!
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