Sentinel

Lisa tells us about her artwork “Sentinel”. It gives us a peek into her thoughts and artistic process. Have a read!

Tell us something about your artwork. What makes it special and one of your favourites?

I love the vitality and passion that red evokes, so I set out to make a series of paintings with crimson as main character. Because my process is intuitive, shapes and forms emerge organically—and I usually follow where they lead. ‘Sentinel’ rose out of pivoting and starting afresh (a tale told in its layers), and thus became the stalwart guide of the series.

Emotional and Intellectual Engagement: A great abstract painting should leave you thinking about it long after you’ve seen it—because it moved you, sparked your curiosity, stirred a lost memory, or appealed to your inherent sense of im/balance or chaos or colour. For me, ‘Sentinel’ is such a piece—it offers comfort, but also poses myriad questions in need of solving.

Composition and Use of Elements: Paintings should move the eye across the canvas. Colours can help direct that journey, being either calming or jarring depending on whether it’s meant to be restful or confronting. For ‘Sentinel’, I’ve used muted and bright plus complementary and contrasting colours to infuse the piece with tension, flow, and energy. While subtle, areas of ‘quiet conversation’ pull you in for a closer look.

Technical Skill and Innovation: ‘Sentinel’ consists of countless layers of acrylic paint and mediums set down in various consistencies. These have been applied with palette knives, wedges, brushes, cloth, and even my hands. Layers build density and texture, and give the eye places to rest as they dance across the canvas. This layering method drives the character and theme development in all of my work. In this particular piece, it helped to create the main recognisable yet abstracted image.

Know more about Lisa’s art journey here.
Visit Lisa’s Artist Profile page here.

Sentinel. Lisa tells us more about this beautiful artwork.