Unfortunately, my work, 'Reflection' was not selected for the finalist shortlist in this year's Napier Waller Art Prize so I can feature it here on my Art Blog, it is also now for sale (unframed) if anyone is interested.
This painting is a study in reflection of operational service juxtaposed against the underlying, hidden emotions of soldiers just getting on with their duties in wartime, not seen on the surface nor understood at the time, and which emerge later on in the quiet of peacetime.
I only used red oil paint and its complementary green to create this painting, both hues were mixed with white for a tonal scale.
Red is symbolic of the Army, power, anger, violence, danger, blood, poppies, the enemy, and war. Whilst green evokes thoughts of camouflage material, terrain, calmness, peace, vegetation, luck, Islam, hospital walls, and the ADF’s partner force, the Afghan National Army (Green force).
Mixing these two hues together results in much of the light spectrum being absorbed and a resulting dark brown colour, almost black, which evokes heavy feelings of depression, death, sadness, decay, depth, and darkness.
51 x 126 cm
Oil on card
May 2020