Vineyard from Abbaye de Pierredon Painting

Spirit – Material – Spirit When one paints in the countryside one needs to identify himself with the country. To work constantly from dawn till dusk is a must. It is an intuitive, trance-like even, need to create. A desire to paint. At best, with a notion of “I don’t know why or how I do it” but utterly sure about doing it right, as best as I can. To be in touch. To let oneself go. To get to know the genius loci. One should remain at the spot of the motif; one should even sleep there. When else, if not before going to sleep and during the sleep, shall one peacefully absorb the feelings aroused by the place. After the dark and at night, the hidden peace lets itself be discovered. It is the peace that gets dispersed during the day by the restless eyes. In the dark, the eyes see less, but the genius loci gets to be felt by a silent focus all the more. Come the morning, the focus fastens itself onto the motif and the colours with the company of persistent will and joy of creation. Employing the soil gathered directly in the environment of the motif helps me get as close as possible to the perfect capturing of the motif on the canvas. As the underlying coat, I apply the layer mixed using the local soil. I sift it using my bare hands to reach the desired granularity. Using a brush, I apply the soil mixed with an acrylic binding agent on a canvas. The underlying coat already establishes the final structure of a painting. On this coat, I apply layers of colours following the demands of the motif. Thus, the authenticity of colour is enacted. Just like the roots of trees and plants draw and absorb the nutrients from the soil and then “express” them by its own colours, the upper layers of a painting are conditioned by the underlying coat. I use first-rate pigments mixed with acrylic binding agent thinned using the local water. I mix the colours right at the moment of painting. This method doesn’t provide the artwork only with its visual outcome but – just like it is with the grapevine, the taste of a wine is conditioned by the minerals in the soil – also the soil base of the painting infuses it with “a taste”, an intangible element. Finalising the painting, of a single colour or a layer, is a question of the observation of the motif and the painting; moving away from the painting. During the conscious work and while being there, getting familiar with the surroundings is mediated by mundane elements, components of the environment, be it the wind in Pierredon or a swarm of mosquitoes in Camargue; it is like when the sun set interrupts an unfinished work. It may sound crazy, but it is only trance-like, and after a few days filled only with work and inner dialogues, I was listening to the wind, the earth and the light. The genius loci should be transformed into or captured in a painting and the painting should radiate with the genius loci. In the end, it is the painting observed in a different environment, elsewhere, at home on a wall. What “effect” does it have? Isn’t it the strongest at the very place of its origin? Vítězslav 2016

Painting:Acrylic on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:35.5 W x 27.5 H x 1 D in

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