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ArthurBlue β The Charm of the Drifter
#blue #bright #cats #clouds #day #daylight #float #floating #flower #flying #girl #grass #green #moon #ocean #offering #orange #sea #statue #sunny #turquoise
Published: 2017-09-14 22:04:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 10122; Favourites: 339; Downloads: 335
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Description
All around me clouds whisperBut I choose not to listen.
- I just gaze at the drifter.
The yellow flowers glisten
But yet I tingle and shiver.
- As the drifter has risen.
In elegant orange clad
And cats in sky colored thrones,
I'm equally glad and sad
When she soars on my pale tones.
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I usually don't talk about the symbols or ideas of my more surreal images, such as this one, as I prefer to leave a large leeway to the viewer. This time, I opted to accompany the image with a simple "poem" (kind of). This is my first ever "poem" in English, not my native language by a long stretch, so please don't judge too harshly.
On purpose, I left for the very last verse an important reveal - who is telling this. Hopefully, this will make you read it again, with a different mindset, and look at the image, equally with another mindset. At least, that was my intention, I don't know whether or not I succeeded.
I like the idea of having a poem as the companion for an image such as this as it simultaneously clarifies and deepens the mystery that normally permeates a surreal image. Anyway, consider it as an experiment. More might follow, or not, who knows...
This was rendered in Vue, as usual.
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Comments: 39
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oh so pretty 
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Gorgeous scene ! I like the clarity and the vibrant colors !
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You're welcome !
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Thank you for being brave and open enough to share your artistic and poetic creativity with all of us.
Β The picture is astounding and vibrant. I also love the small details....I love cats. The hand rock/ rock hand is peculiar. I like it and encourage you to keep experimenting with art and poetry. Β
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Thank you for your kind words.
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Love the sense of scale, the bright colors and the actual meaning. The hand giving the flower, while the lady is elevated seems to me like a way to elevate your loved one by the love you give. It gives them wings. And beauty.Β
And the poem is beautiful. Love the ending.Β
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings, I really appreciate it.
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You're very welcome.
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Thank you, I'm glad you like it.
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wonderful & captivating image! Β ' tudo bem" on your English.
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Lovely. I wonder, sometimes, at an expert-mode & artfulness of some commentsΒ .
Very different from (for instance) surrealism of Michael Parkes, an American living in Spain (not CG). Yet some similarity can be seen. Motives of flying,Β weightlessness... "interactive" animals.
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Thank you! I'm honored for your comparison. I do love Michael Parkes work, his images are so mysterious and elegant.
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He's superb, though a bit cold. I nearly start seeing an indifferent, unhuman element in the whole bulk of his pictures. Well, depends on the viewer's current mood...
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I understand your point of view. Perhaps that's partly due to his almost exclusive use of subdued colors and a somewhat repeated use of the same (or very similar) color palette throughout his portfolio. On one hand, this makes his work immediately recognizable, on the other hand it could create that feeling you described.
I like his images a lot, the only thing I miss is a bit more background context in most of his works. In most images, he portrays the focal element without a relevant background context (mainly he uses vague, fuzzy or fairly irrelevant shapes for that). I mean, we never really see the world where his characters exist (we see the "actor" and the "props" but not the world).
The advantage of this principle is that the viewer focuses only on the concept he wanted to depict, without any distractions. On the other hand, it can make it harder for the viewer to emotionally connect with his images because, in practice, we all live within a background context, we subconsciously expect everything around us to have a context (maybe this is another reason for your impression).
That's why I usually work a lot on the details and background around my "actors" and "props", because I want to give the viewer a whole world, not just an "actor+props".
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Your insight is impressive. The context being not present can have a double effect indeed. And there is another point: what is the action of the actors enjoying freedom in the endless empty space, what are the humans and animals doing, actually? Merely posing. In an ideal world, and the artist is imaging the one, all the goals have been reached, no need to do anything. And here we can face a hint to a post-death world... But generally, with no philosophy, with a direct visual impression in focus, abstract or even empty backgrounds can be fine, if the figures/objects are okay. A good example: Master at Play, 2011. A favorite of mine, once found on Cognitivedistortion. No signature, the site name instead. The picture can bee seen in the "Creatures" section (Page 7).
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Thanks for the compliment.
But an empty horizon line doesn't act as negative space (in my opinion). It's not sufficiently "negative". It's impossible to miss, it draws your attention (therefore, it's not negative, by definition) but when you look at it... you see nothing. So, it's just distracting, as it draws your attention to nothing. The eyes just drift away from the image. Mostly in these cases, I just have the feeling that the artist left the image unfinished.
I have a feeling this would be a nice conversation around a nice drink in a sunset bar.
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I guess if a nice talk is ever possible, it would be held in the Crimea rather than in another sunny location... like Portugal!Β
I havn't added much to my knowledge of drawing/painting (3D isn't considered) since I left a children's art studio; one of some bits I've learnt is that the horizon should not divide the picture into two equal parts, and next to this there's another piece of wisdom: the number of figures/objects in a composition must be odd, otherwise it is unstable... The dubious thing here is the size - one of the figures can be too small to be included into the count... but HOW MUCH smaller is it meant to be in this case? Young people (certified proffies) holding the brush in their fist (to shock an old teacher) would not care, thoughΒ ...Β
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Crimea sounds nice to me. Never been to that part of the world.
Those composition tips are good ones. We must have read the same books.
As for your question regarding size, there's no formula, it's a matter of "instinct", I would say. For example, in my latest one, there are two cats but they are completely separated so they are "compositionally" seen as 1+1, not as a pair. And there are 7 birds and 3 main yellow flowers (there's a very small 4th one but is barely noticeable).
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It's a beautiful idea, well expressed. Coupling verse with vision joins sight, sound, and soul.
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Thank you. That's a beautiful and perfect way to summarize what I guess I was trying to achieve.
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Thank you. Illogic and foolish emotions are not always irritant, I suppose.
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geez,l really need to lay off the caffeine!!! 
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Thank you, I'm glad you feel that way.
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I wonder if it's the whole planet talking or just the hand.
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Now, there's something I hadn't thought other people might think.
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Yeah though now that I re read it, in the end it says "pale tones" and at least that zone of the planet looks pretty nice an greeny.
So it'd make more sense for people to think it's the pale hand talking.
Beautiful picture like always by the way.
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