DrIpScapes

DRIPSCAPES

By James McKeag

Dripscapes, is a term James created to describe his new approach to traditional landscape painting. He is influenced by the method of the American Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock's drip technique. Pollock created paintings that are less controlled and unrecognizable. By reversing this premise, James' images are highly controlled and recognizable, while using the drip technique. The result of these paintings, showcase the infusion of hundreds of values and shades of colours that range from very small drips/dots, to large drips/blobs of colour and lines. Through a careful execution of layering and masking, the landscapes start to unfold an image within a bright and vibrant array.

The end result, lends the viewer to consider the fragility of the land. The images are representational, but not "picture perfect" in the depiction of the shapes that one sees in nature. The looseness of the composition, provides both thought and a contemporary beauty of our natural sites. Viewer recognition of the scene and the depth that is observed, is achieved through the techniques of both traditional light and dark values of colour and the scale of the drips/dots used.

Canvas in this series are large in scale on thick "gallery" stretched canvas, unframed, (back of canvas' are covered backing and wired to hang), using acrylic paint and are often covered with a UV protectant clear coat in a gloss finish that provides a rich, vibrant look to the finished paintings.