Creating Neo Deco – 27-08-25

Website link: https://corneakkers.com/neo-deco-27-08-25/
Print: https://corneakkers.com/print-neo-deco-27-08-25/
Printable: https://corneakkers.com/product/printable-neo-deco-27-08-25/

A Culmination

This oil painting ‘Neo Deco – 27-08-25’ is the result of 13 previous graphite pencil drawings of Assia Granatouroff. Finally colour has touched her sweet features. With this painting I want to offer the viewer a 5-course meal experience from the perspective of color. Just like in the last painting I forged the color scheme with uttter care and precision. Surely, I didn’t want colors flying out of control. Apparently, they often do and no exception this time.

Overcoming Troubles with Colors

Last Sunday I was attending to an exhibition of artwork by Floris Verster in the Lakenhal, Leiden. There I read he was praised by art critics because of his innovative flower still lifes. On the other hand he was constantly suffering a lot during the process of creating them. That’s exactly how I felt at this very moment. Unfortunately, that is what we artists have to cope with each time. However, I have gone through this before and I know I have to keep my head cool and study what went wrong. The problem lies in either the quantity of base colors or their respective quality. Johannes Itten often speaks of qualitative / quantitative contrasts.

Wu Wei

After careful reconsiderations I decided many colors were too strong (saturation). Next to this, I found yellow to become too dominant in the highlights. So I almost cancelled all the yellow and took care of tuning down many saturated colors. The fun part is that, as in the case in last painting, forms already were perfect. The only care was to match a suiting color scheme. When that’s accomplished all things fell into place. That was today and even to my surprize. It was only last Monday I said to one of my students I had to work on the painting for a long time. This is how it goes: Wu Wei and before you know it …

Oil on portrait linen (60 x 80 x 2 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers