Berg 1 Painting

The layout for the Abstract painting Berg 1 started from the basis of a collaboration with Mike Edwards and one of his sculptures. The works needed to complement each other when viewed together but still be able to have substance alone. The abstract sculpture is echoed in the abstract mountain form and in the white division depicted across the work. From here I used the Drakensberg mountains as inspiration for the painting. The colours and forms in most of my paintings and this piece are never meant to be exact replicas of the subject but rather an expression, impression and/or an emotional symbol or abstraction of the mountain, field, rock and sky. Through contrast in the forms and colour, I try and depict an underlying worry that I have, that is: “How we are destroying the world with structures and overpopulation through destruction of the earth’s resources and vegetation.” In this particular painting, the white mountain abstract divides Nature and Mankind. Nature is portrayed through the mountains and sky landscape, and below the circular crop fields and geometric forms are symbolic of Mankind. I have managed to create colour nuances by using the acrylic medium in the paint to get an opaque colour that then can be built up of layers of the subtle differences in areas. My hope is that prospective buyers once they have purchased the painting will continue to look and discover details in the forms and colours of the painting and that it will complement their collection and living space.