This painting is finished, I used more oil paint, then applied some water based emulsion thinking it was gloss, this is obviously not a good combination so I washed it off with water. I think the accidental smudgyness which has resulted is quite successful. In “Prehistoric art” (1998:xiii), Paul G Bahn states that art is a “deliberate communication through visual form….. an expression of group mentality and of an artists inner world”. I agree that art is an expression of an artists inner world and that it is a deliberate communication, however the method can be quite intuitive and accidental.
In “Psychological Aesthetics” (2001:8), David Maclagan suggests that as well as the the artists psychological experience being translated into paint, “the actual aesthetic features of a painting, such as its pressure of line, density of colour, coherence or incoherence of form- have their own independent psychological contribution to make”. He states that a painting can become the “arena for an exchange between the supposedly subjective dimension of the spectators experience and the works actual external features. The exchange is a reciprocal one where each is modified by the other” (Maclagan 2001:11). Therefore if a viewer is willing to enter into the painting they may be able to experience what the artist was trying to communicate whether this was a concious message or an unconscious one, or they may be influenced in a different way due to their own experience and reaction to the aesthetic elements of the painting.
I am going to call this painting “Laguz” which is the name of a rune meaning “Water”. Water is the symbol of the unconscious and invisible life forces. All of life is dependent on water, and therefore Laguz represents the universal ocean, the supreme unity of all life: past, present and future. The substance of Laguz is everywhere present, pervades all things and underlies all manifestation. It is the living energy out of which everything is made. It sustains and enriches any idea that is projected into it.
