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SUBTERRANEANS (1992)
Acrylic on Canvas - 44" x 33"

Companion piece to CLIMBER and THE RED STEP, this painting is firmly set within my Faded Star series. My original conception of the image didn’t seem right somehow, and I had been wondering how I could improve on it. 1/4

#personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fineart #fadedstar

#fineart #personalvisions #imaginativerealism #fadedstar
in reply to Michael Whelan

Michael Whelan
Michael Whelan
• •
While attending my daughter’s winter music concert at her school, the answer came to me and I could see it in my mind’s eye. Fortunately I had a little pad of paper and a pencil in my pocket on which to sketch it while it was still fresh in my mind. 2/4
Alternative approach to SUBTERRANEANS. Black and white charcoal on charcoal paper, 6" x 4". A straight-on view of the stepped wall with a solitary figure standing lower right.
Sketch for SUBTERRANEANS. Graphite pencil on notebook paper, 2¼" x 2". Sketch of massive stepped wall working out the perspective
in reply to Michael Whelan

Michael Whelan
Michael Whelan
• •
The perspective is false. For some reason, whenever I tried to make the picture do what I wanted it to do via the conventional laws of perspective, it lost its focus, the feel of ascending immensity going on forever. So I discarded true perspective in order to paint it the way that felt right. 3/4
Detail from SUBTERRANEANS featuring a worm's eye view up a massive stepped wall. Light filters in from above hitting the side wall, lending the space a hazy atmosphere.
Close detail of a solitary figure crouched at the base of a massive stepped wall

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