Robert Genn's Twice Weekly Letter
Insight and inspiration for your artistic career.

Dear Artist,

For the past while our good friends Gil and Marion Dyck needed a medium sized abstract to go at the top of the stairs in the entrance to their new home. Over the past two days Gil and I got together and made one. Gil is a medical doctor who works in emergency in the local hospital and had no previous experience in painting. While both he and his wife are well informed about art, and are serious collectors, he doubted his potential contribution as a co-painter. But when he got the brush in his hand he began to see the possibilities.

The Dycks had in mind a strong-impact vertical 36” x 48” acrylic. We decided on a 2” stretcher gallery canvas so the work could hang unframed. After a grey primer the early strokes were augmented with a roller. A dark tone was chosen to give spotted and blended effects and a strong vertical presence.

Various brushes and cardboard spreaders were used to add serendipitous colours and shapes. Paint squeezed directly from the tube was scraped and formed to add significant texture. Without too much planning, a motif began to form. Gil and I alternated work on the canvas.

The next day the paint was dry enough to tone down with a glaze. Then we scumbled here and there to add casualness and mystery. We worked more patches of colour back into the motif. Decisions were made to cover the less desirable passages and to leave those of greater interest exposed. While individual gestures and motifs were somewhat arbitrary, we found these decisions were often difficult to make. We agreed that toned-down surrounds were needed to play against higher-key centers of interest. We tried to avoid specific detail and went for overall graphic soundness. Including interspersed acrylic isolation coats and slightly forced drying the second working lasted about an hour.

We discussed several titles. As the work had evolved into a sort of enigmatic monument, we decided to call it “Totemic rise.” As the effort was a co-project we signed “Gennovese Van Dyck.”

The work was shortly on their wall. After a few days we’ll put on a coat of final varnish to make sure our efforts stick around.

Best regards,

Robert

PS: “Our responses to the world are crucially moulded by the company we keep, for we temper our curiosity to fit in with the expectations of others.” (Alain de Botton)

Wikipedia entry: Van Dyck, Gennovese, b. 1948 in the Occupied Territories to a Protestant father and a Catholic mother. Moved to The Netherlands, 1986. Van Dyck is a popular Dutch Neo-Renaissance abstract painter and bulb grower. Noted for never selling, always giving (some 18,000 paintings to date), Van Dyck is totally supported by his bulbs. Family motto (roughly translated) “It’s better to give than to receive.” Married to Virginia (nee Putz), home economist. The Van Dyck’s have three boys, Donder, Blitzen and Rudolph.

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