I’ve been living with these two canvases of Venice-inspired imagery for weeks now, waiting for the impulse to take them further and ‘finish’ them…
Venice bridge 1. Mari French 2013
… but although I know the second one needs a few more touches of paint, I’m inclined to wonder if they might actually stand as they are …
i initially intended the red to act as an under painting, but I like the way it reflects how I see Venice… its passionate past and bloody history.
Both paintings are 40 x 40cm, acrylic/mixed media on canvas.
Mari French RI : contemporary artworks 
Good blog you have here.. It’s hard to find high quality writing like yours nowadays. I honestly appreciate people like you! Take care!!
for a vivid illustration of visual/mental perception (stick with it – I can never watch this without being moved to tears). I had a period where I lost a lot of my contrast/colour vision (I have never taken colour for granted since). I still occasionally get scintillating scotoma before a migraine – which is both magical and beautiful.
I love the red – it speaks of many things other than just the pure aesthetic pleasure of that vibrancy amongst the shadows – and I really like the way it curls around the content in the second image.
Thanks for the link to that fascinating video Elaine, I’ve just watched it and it was very moving, and interesting!
And thanks too for the thoughtful feedback on my Venice paintings. Sorry for the delay in replying I was up in Penrith collecting work (believe it or not) and have only just had chance to view the video. Hope you’re ‘up and running’ again and able to enjoy painting 🙂
Nothing missing
Thank you, that’s interesting 🙂
You saw my article on structures on different scales. It is there. And, although I think I can identify something that is like a building and maybe a bridge, the pictures are mostly non-conceptual, pure beautiful structure. Such pictures, if I look at them, can bring me into a state of mind where concepts are quiet, poor perception, see http://asifoscope.org/2013/03/02/before-words/
I think you can leave them like this.
nannus, you put it so well, thank you.
I read the article on your link – your idea of abstract art as being pre-conceptual or non-conceptual really chimes with me. It reminds me in some respects of fascinating research done by a Dr Marius Von Senden, described in his book ‘Space and sight’, relating to the visual perceptions of congenitally blind (by cataracts) patients after operations to restore their sight; for example assuming the shadows they saw were solid objects. I’d thoroughly recommend reading it or checking out extracts online.
anyway, I very much appreciate your explanation of your response to my work.
Excellent pictures.
Thanks for your feedback!