This video in stylistic cinematography is real-time footage of my shadow boxing and performing a warmdown on the heavybag after an upper body workout at a gym.
I recommend headphones or loudspeakers ð¢ð§ to fully enjoy the experience ð¬.
Documenting Works incl unpublished pieces
The artistically placed palette colours onto A4 paper for âUnification of Colour #1â took me approximately twenty minutes.
With the beauty of its construction this reminds me of my earlier works Geometric Lines #1 & #2. Whereas acrylic paint in âUnification of Colour #1â forms the structure instead of ink and pencil in Geometric Lines #1 & #2.
The title for this work derives from the unification of peoples rather than describing political terminology. A unification transcending individual national colours.
Please note the choice of colours is not political, national or with any exact meaning. It merely represents the palette colours I had available at the time of my art working.
I encourage you to click on each image for closer detail. âUnification of Colour #1 -SolarScapeâ is a digital artwork derived from the original. I balanced the tones, contrast and brightness digitally for this artwork.
Whilst some digital artworks I make are purely experimental, I do feel digital artworks like these are limited edition giclees, lithographs and silkscreens for the future.
Both these works are as perfect as my artmaking gets, to me.
I photographed prewritten A4 paper at 2135hrs consisting entirely of charcoal pencil from an earlier working idea.
By 2312hrs on the 20th I had photographed the completed âcetaceaâ work with acrylic paint. I write this to give you an idea of just how fast I am working sometimes.
Here is the premarked paper:
Super glad I had the thought to photograph this A4 premarked paper prior to painting, see immediately above.
10101, 10101, 01010 is an ISBN style theme from earlier works in Pop Art Egyptian Rabbit with ISBN & Barcode. Albeit a different numbering code, visibly obscured in the painting.
âcetaceaâ asks questions with regards to the origination of life, entwined in the idea of secrecy and spiritual liberation.
âGold Rectangular Frame with Redâ (shown immediately above) is made in the same one-draft-only session with âRed Scratchpadâ using a gold and cadmium red 50/50 acrylic paint mix.
The first photographs for both paintings [Gold Rectangular Frame with Red and Red Scratchpad] were taken at 0023hrs upon completion on 24th April including photographs of the two acrylic paint tubes used, for documenting purposes.
Quote âWith the remaining deep red paint I made another quite phenomenal abstract immediately afterwards in the style of âPseudo-Purple with Gold Frameâ [29th March 2024]â.
I decided on the paint mix for âRed Scratchpadâ and continued with this colour scheme for âGold Rectangular Frame with Redâ. The latter has two digital Versions entitled âPseudo-Gold Monochrome Frameâ and âPseudo-Gold Magenta Frame with Purpleâ, see immediately below for both these:
Then the Purple version here:
âI kind of like this one, Bob, leave itâ – screenplay quote from Batman (1989).
Why reference a popular violent movie?
I don’t know. Heat? Global warming? Manmade climate damage. Art is interpreted the way you perceive it. I didn’t have any specific theme behind âGold Rectangular Frame with Redâ. It does have an urgency within the artwork though.
I feel if we combine the red to be heat, the monochrome to be fossil fuels and the purple to be a psychopathic onslaught against planet Earth.. an intellectual theme is created as I write!
In keeping with themes here is my next work to share with you:
Clearly this is Abstract.
âMapped Random Satellite {Day} #1â is literally a doodle produced by drawing pencil lines around random premarked acrylic paint likely made during my earlier work âBlack Rectangle with Blueâ. The latter included both silver and black acrylic.
As an electronic gaming enthusiast since my childhood I had just completed a virtual flight using a modern computing simulation of avionics.
Having a pencil at the ready following notation after my gaming I made a quick doodle around the premarked acrylic in the Notepad I was using! No preplanned idea whatsoever.
The title is derived by how I perceived the artwork, afterwards.
Quote â âWhat do you think of looking at this?â [Asking with no information given regarding the artwork besides drawing around premarked paint]
– “It looks like tools“.
Maps are an integral part of aviation. The artwork is 100% pure chance.
nb I made a second Version as a digital artwork for this entitled âMapped Random Satellite {Night} #1â here:
I felt âMapped Random Satellite {Night} #1â had artistic value in context of beauty and symbology.
Incredibly by 100% pure chance the original has two adjacent runways with a ‘person’ sat on a seat as if viewing a computer, perhaps even directing aircraft either for ATC or military purposes?
You’re the viewer, you decide.
For me as an artist the original is one of the most ridiculous artworks I have ever made by chance.
As a bonus to blog Readers I thought I would include a previously unpublished acrylic work:
“10110101” is a direct number reference to Pop Art Egyptian Rabbit with ISBN & Barcode linked earlier in this blog article.
I hadn’t published this artwork up until now for no particular reason. It certainly has no gender specific or unspecific connotation.
Those knowing my youth will appreciate I was/am immensely technically interested in computers. Including the ability in my teens to write programs in computer languages to some extent. With (non-machine) code I could understand somewhat its intended purpose.
In my childhood family life and/or directly owned by me personally I had direct access to the ZX81, Atari, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 16, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, Playstations 1 & 2 then three desktop PCs (as early as Windows 95) and two laptops.
Binary numbers always represent computing to me.
In this sense “10110101” is created as a cuneiform tablet as a pseudo-set of language rules.
The origination of written language academically, historically, culturally and genetically as a human race.
Art.
Mud Tiger Yellow Green Rectangles Totem
Firstly for this blog article there is some replication [of words] from my Instagram profile. However I promise you there is definitely worthwhile additions here for you to learn more about these three individual works.
From my Instagram social media:
“The central piece entitled âMud Tiger Rectangleâ started as an intricate orange background with 21 plus 5 black palette swipes on the paper. Three rows of seven with one row of five. Next day (25th May) I put intense effort to finally make happy with the result.
Afterwards I could see a âtiger faceâ within the central totem rectangle. I donât know how this got there. Itâs far too ridiculous for me to believe, even myself. Please note the photograph is particularly dramatic with light cascading off the wet paint.
âYellow Gold Rectangle in Tiger Nationâ (base of Totem) was a breeze of joy and ease to make. Its background derived from my additional âMud Tigerâ paint. It required careful palette working.
âGreen Gold Rectangle in Tiger Nationâ (top of Totem) was immensely difficult for me to make, much as âMud Tiger Rectangleâ also needed multiple palette knife alterations, to make happy.
âGreenâ had palette and brushwork for the rectangle. The gold added is palette work for interest. I thought exclusively of trees making this :]
Very proud of these pieces especially with my meticulous working over individual alternated drafts.
On the 23rd May I made a beauty artwork in just 20 minutes. None of these three pieces in the Totem were twenty minutes each to make. Oh my goodness the effort for these beauties!”
Here is new commentary and photos of the individual works including the first draft for those who have already seen my Instagram:
Kind of cool this one isn’t it? (see photograph immediately above). Swipes of the palette knife on the paper. By the way am I the only artist who doesn’t like the term ‘palette knife’? I would much prefer ‘palette trowel’.
Every artist out there.. ‘palette trowel.. PALETTE TROWEL.. NEVER!’
Honestly though gardeners don’t typically say ‘Spread the soil evenly and ever so gently with your pruning knife’.
Perhaps the ‘palette till’ and ‘palette tilling’ or something to this effect?
To the artwork. I loved this first draft, nearly wishing to keep it as the finished work! Only thing I didn’t appreciate artistically is my garish use of orange. I’ve done a similar thing in a draft before, click the link here for my oil painting: Human Heart.
Interestingly the first draft of “Human Heart” received a lot of social media likes. Likewise I do feel there is something innovative with the concept. Paw swipes, tiger swipes in a patterned formula.
Anyway by 100% pure chance can you believe the four central paw swipes actually become the face of the tiger?! It’s true.
Did I plan this? No! I promise you I had no idea of this myself until afterwards viewing the artwork.
I would not expect anyone to believe this unless they viewed works like âPure Chance Portrait #2 in Portraitâ for themselves.
Whenever these ridiculous chance elements occur I instantly perceive them as my own personal masterpieces. Whereby I cannot replicate their individual uniqueness. They’re all one-of-a-kinds. Freaks of art.
Enough self-gratification, let’s publish the individual works within the totem for your viewing pleasure:
âGreen Rectangular Mud Tiger with Three Goldsâ was originally photographed on quite a bright day. I guess you would need to see the artwork physically to appreciate it’s entire loveliness. That said, please do click on all the images for a closer look.
Gold is always a difficult colour to represent digitally. The light plays with gold even in the image you see.
The tiger face within âMud Tiger Rectangle with Tiger Faceâ is perfectly pure chance placed in the centre of the rectangle.. *laughs*.. since I couldn’t have placed it better myself!
In my opinion this is one of the most beautiful brown-black combinations I have seen. Obviously I’m completely biased with this opinion being as this is my art, my artworks.
I’m supposed to be all very modesty.
Instead I shall share one of my witticisms, a fun saying I have in the style of a famous comedy genius:
“do you like it?, i like it, do you?, oh marvellous, isn’t that marvellous?, splendid marvellous, oh i like it, splendid, oh really?, wonderful, marvellous, oh we like it, that’s it then, marvellous.”
I laughed even just re-reading this fun saying to myself.
âSunshine Yellow Rectangular Mud Tigerâ is a rectangle representing the Sun, that is yellow.
*LAUGH*
The Fathomable Scream
This piece is inadvertently inspired by Edvard Munch entitled âThe Fathomable Screamâ and made of approximately three drafts on two separate days with around three hours working. Beginning the work on lightly prepainted paper.
Here is the slightly premarked paper immediately below (11th May) to give you an idea of how the artworking area looked before I began:
Minimal.
You can see entirely random palette marks made, immediately above, whilst working on another paper canvas. The premarked paper is unintended scrapes of my palette knife whilst I worked on âCavernous Red Blue Abyssâ.
Here is the first intended draft:
In the first draft entitled “GG” we see the words ‘disguise’ and ‘covert’ in iron gall ink. The GG stood for good game, inspiration from an online Youtube video. I had no thought whatsoever to make the ‘GG’ into eyes, face and mouth as yet. Nor any idea regarding a Munch scream inspiration until the lower-right face formed.
Of the two faces to the right.. the lower-right face was first. Completely random in any likeness. HONESTLY. The paint was placed directly onto the paper. I used the palette to make face shapes. The mouth reminded me of a popular Oscar winning animation. However its sense of sadness, horror or anxiety appealed to me within the ideas of a developing artwork theme.
If you had observed how very randomly I moved the paint for the lower-right face over and over you would appreciate how odd it was to me when the chance likeness of someone famous appeared. Again.
From this I then thought of tragedies and musicians.. like Kurt Cobain, hence the blonde hair idea. Afterwards (days afterwards) I realised this artistic idea had another direct significance to ‘the likeness’ face!
By this time the top-right face could represent John Lennon, or anyone the viewer chose in the context of tragedy.
——-
It is good to note for the second draft I watched television at the time of painting the evening of 18th May. Usually I art work in quiet as I’m a very focused person. Although if I write songs I am often listening to music.
A particular sports commentary to know their general opinions.
The hair for the large left face is pure chance in that I never intended to actually paint hair! I thought of Andy Warhol by the time I made divers goggles around the eyes. It was also here I loved the way the unintended hair looked. I literally wanted a nice background as I paletted gold paint onto the canvas.
âThe Fathomable Screamâ [16th/18th May 2024] became an immediately recognisable, creative and unique Unfathomable Artist work.
Here it is to show the painting only:
Documenting Works
âYellow Gold Rectangular Frame with Pink/Silverâ uses paint I literally scraped from (very nearly) the entire surface of another artwork entitled âcovertâ. The excess wet pinkish paint was quickly added to this A4 paint marked paper on the 5th May for its first draft.
On the 7th May I continued the piece in my garden late afternoon on the table [of my photographic piece âCherry Blossom Tree with Table & Wooden Benchâ].
Copper, gold, silver and (mid) cadmium yellow then added with my favoured palette knife for this sort of abstract/detailing.
I didnât time either of these two drafts due to the wet pinkish paint and an instinctive moment whilst in the garden. Approximately half an hour each draft.
I love it with emoji heart eyes.
Next we have âRectangular Robot Face Triptychâ:
Quote from my Instagram:
“I worked on all three of these new works in âRectangular Robot Face Triptychâ obsessively and simultaneously last night after midnight early hours of the 10th May. All three works took me a very messy, timed, 1 hour 23 minutes 25 seconds.
The A4 shown top-right was pre-paintmarked with a near-central bright-red farground.
The A3 was only very lightly pre-paintmarked. The top-left A4 was pre-paintmarked in the pinkish paint from “covert” [yet to be published]. Its sister pinkish piece [pre-paintmarked at the same time] became âYellow Gold Rectangular Frame with Pink/Silverâ.
The larger A3 with five broad red palette knife lines honestly took me an easy [approximate] 20 minutes from start to finish [excluding the very minimal prepaint work from days earlier].
In fact the entire yellow-gold background is all within that [approximate] twenty minutes timeframe along with the red paint added. The yellow-gold was instinctively utilised from working on the other two A4 canvases.
This triptych image configuration is pure 100% improvisation the three works were completed. I certainly had no plan to make these as a whole piece. No plan to become a ârobot faceâ whatsoever. I made them all as individual original pieces.
There are deep intellectual layers occurring in these works.
Subconsciously. Emotionally. Artistically.
Even from things I read that evening of Thursday 9th before midnight. Strange phenomena.
The two A4 pieces were particularly difficult for me to make. Therefore one hour twenty-three minutes for all three is quite impressive even for my own speed painting ability.” – 10th May 2024 by Matt The Unfathomable Artist.
Please think about making three artworks in just one hour twenty-three minutes then combining them to produce a uniformal triptych immediately afterwards at three a.m. in the morning! All three are very beautiful.
The triptych image is from a physical composition I made in my garden from 1038hrs, still on the 10th May. This then required sophisticated editing techniques to create the image you see here.
Let’s catch up with my further works to publish from Instagram with âCavernous Red Blue Abyssâ:
Three (*1, *2, *3) works completed on this day. Two abstracts each in one draft including the beautiful âCavernous Red Blue Abyssâ [aside from its lightly premarked paper from days earlier] (this represents *2 of the three works).
With this piece I had an idea to produce a UFO (or UAP – unidentified anomalous phenomenon) similar to my digital artwork entitled âPropulsionâ on 13th October 2023. You can make out this shape from within the abstract here in my silver acrylic paint. Please click my link Propulsion to see the earlier blog article with my digital works, “Original”, “Monochrome” and “Infrared” for “Propulsion”.
From there I am happy to let this artwork âCavernous Red Blue Abyssâ become abstract in nature. As the Viewer you decide if you wish the shape/s to be definable.
I made âCavernous Red Blue Abyssâ quite quickly, highly focused on quality production.
Here is the other abstract âBlack Rectangle with Blueâ:
With âBlack Rectangle with Blueâ (represents *3) everything is the flurry of painting activity with my palette knife.
I then excitedly decided upon a black rectangle! Once formed I made precise motions for the way this black rectangle looks upon the paper.
Magnifico.
As with most all physically represented artworks seeing is believing in terms of the quality.
nb Please note “Untitled Character #1 in Red on Gold” previously included within this article has been moved to a privately published blog article.
“Face with Gold Mouth”
Let’s start with my social media quotation:
âFace with Gold Mouthâ began as charcoal lines in mostly abstract forms. Shapes primarily. The drawing took me about 20 minutes.
I photographed the drawing at 2101hrs immediately, deciding what to do next.
The entire acrylic painting was then finished in an incredible one hour fourteen seconds, timed. I quickly started photographing. The image you see here is from a photograph I selected at 2207hrs, the paint still gleaming wet.
I do feel it is a very unique artwork for one hour fourteen seconds of painting.”
Picasso and Van Gogh are my main influences here.
The ivory black paint around the outer area I kept very accurate to the drawing. There is no brushwork whatsoever. I decided to improvise with the actual painting. Only restoring the idea for eyes, mouth and nose ‘later‘ in my working.
later within the hour of course.
The dachshund shape is complete chance. This delighted me immediately after making the drawing. I knew I needed to retain this in the painting. With wet paint heavy on the paper I quickly referred to my photograph of the drawing to place the eyes and nose, stylistically.
I noted the triangular area looked wonderful for the mouth. So much fun to produce. Likewise the ivory black area, the etched lines my own Van Gogh emulation seen in a number of sketches (with pencils and/or ink) I’ve produced of trees.
After completing the piece I originally envisaged the title “Face with Dog Tree”! However two reasons I decided upon âFace with Gold Mouthâ.
Firstly, my mother specifically commented ‘it has a gold mouth’. Also, I thought it would be interesting for viewers to see the idea of a dachshund/dog for themselves. Particularly as this element was unplanned.
The ‘mouth teeth‘ at the top is the original charcoal from the drawing. It was pure spontaneity. Immediately it reminded me of a music industry friend.
You can even see a charcoal line did not get overpainted on the head above the eyes too.
Here is the charcoal drawing:
I never viewed this as a self portrait then or now. The abstract face was made without any thought to resemble or represent anyone in particular.
Some days later reading the earliest introduction of this [portrait] person’s life.. I knew it would be ridiculous for me to pretend this painting could be of any other person.
It’s strange a randomly made abstract-like painting could become a certain, unique human being. Unique enough for others to intellectualise.
By the way, I thought you might like to see the timer for this painting work:
“Knight Unfathomable” Works
Firstly my earlier quote:
” I made the spontaneous [under] drawing for this work in 15 minutes.
The âsecond draftâ five minutes later for all the painting work took me 50 minutes using only one palette knife entirely. There is no brush work. One hour five minutes in total working on this piece.
I also made four different digital artworks from the Original painting the next day, Sunday afternoon :]
Completing a work of this strength in just one hour five minutes using only one palette knife and a 2B pencil.
The spontaneity, inspired of style, personal references, intellectual interconnectivity and visual beauty of this artwork has truly pleased me. “
With âKnight Unfathomable in Goldâ there is intricate symbology throughout. Whilst painting, inspiration kept arriving in my mind.
Lowry. Levitation. A popular science fiction-fantasy film franchise. My “type:” art works series. Very personal experiences. Interests, sporting, hobbies and disciplines – specific. Physiology. Physical attributes. Emotion and feelings. Some perceptions of others towards me. Explicable world views. Ancient presentation. Cubism. Art Masters emulation. ‘M’ wavelengths.
Every thought therewith upon the paper.
The “om” interconnecting was purely unintentional.
A line between ‘a’ and ‘b’ merely the estimated spacing for the rectangular sign. I found this quite laughable since under-spacing “unfathomable” has occurred almost every time I have made this worded visual in past works. It features 12 letters!
Next for this article I’m inviting you to view each Digital Work from the Original (you can click on each) without further commentary by myself. I like the idea you will choose your own favourite:
[please note colour representation might vary slightly according to your monitor or mobile device]
âKnight Unfathomable in Blueâ above.
âKnight Unfathomable in Redâ above.
âKnight Unfathomable in Black & Whiteâ above. A fifth Digital made on the 1st May.
âKnight Unfathomable in Greenâ above.
âKnight Unfathomable in SolarScapeâ above.
Finally here is the first draft photograph immediately prior to beginning palette knife painting in a second draft, just five minutes from the first.
Timeline:
- 2125hrs to 2140hrs first draft drawing with 2B pencil shown in the monochrome image immediately above.
- You can see the first four gold paint placements onto the paper directly from the paint tube at 2145hrs in the photograph. I very quickly documented the first draft before continuing. My thought being ‘I would really like people to see how successfully I can keep to the original drawing with my palette paint work only‘. Similar to an opera singer amazing you with the power of their voice.
- 2145hrs to 2235hrs palette knife paint working to completion. 50 minutes.
I feel the Digital Artworks for these pieces would be best represented in physical form as unique silkscreen prints. Or equally best in some form of paint pressing method in like-style to how I made Pressed Gold Flowers.
By the way, as I viewed my blog to obtain the “Pressed Gold Flowers” link I astounded myself with my own works scrolling through! The quality and distance to my art portfolio has become remarkably weighty even if I humbly so write.
The original âKnight Unfathomable in Goldâ considering its unbelievably complex spontaneity and speed.. is a genuine masterpiece of intellectual art!
I do want to create further cubist and psuedo bas-relief works in the future.
Cyan Palette Nebulae
I made three miniature canvas artworks on the same draft evening session the 4th April. This cyan liquid paint drip and palette knife working is the second piece, completed in literal minutes.
Artistically placing liquid mixed dripped paint then very carefully applying my favourite palette knife.
As with âYellow Gold Rectangular Masterpieceâ this artwork âCyan Palette Nebulaeâ just happened to present beautifully upon the canvas to my exquisite delight.
I do not think there is a painting I ever made with so few palette knife motions. “I love this paintingâs complex simplicity“
Then some days later whilst viewing this artwork on display I noticed an almost âalien-like womanâ, herself appearing to view the extraordinary.
If this is difficult to fathom.. there is also a believable lionâs face in my âCyan Palette Nebulaeâ. Definitely extraordinary for an artwork taking me not twenty minutes or thereabouts with completely random paint drips and quick palette work on the wet canvas.
The ‘lion’s mane‘ of the nebulae took the longest. Please appreciate I constructed this piece as a 100% abstract. I had no objects, faces or people in mind whatsoever. Not even nebulae! I only named this piece afterwards for how I believed it could reasonably be titled.
As a nebulae.
It was days after seeing the âalien-like womanâ I then incomprehensibly discovered the ‘lionâs face‘ with a robot-like eye.
Its left eye (as we view the piece), nose, jaw, mouth and mane now recognisable to a viewer.
The strangest thing about these now discernible phenomena is knowing I had not planned, envisaged or conceived of any such idea whilst painting! Honestly. True.
It is definitely unfathomable.
To give you an idea of my process. I dripped the thinnest, wettest paint first. A watery mixture from the same singular batch. The top liquidy layer from the petri dish-like glass container I mixed the paint in. As an artist making an abstract my focus was purely upon contrast. Lights, darks, interesting swirls for this piece.
I remember being very definite about this. Moving the palette until I was happy. I took perhaps no more than ten minutes for the first paint layer. Time goes Dali when painting, believe me. This is why I often stopwatch my sketches to be accurate with times for speed drawings over drafts.
Generally I do not time oils and acrylics. Although I have kept a look at my watch when starting acrylics very recently.
Anyway let’s explain the second heavier alla prima top layer where we now see the woman’s face and lion. It is here I literally made so few palette movements as to be near impossible in creating such masterful depictions.
How else am I supposed to write this?
If I tried to make these complex, beautiful depictions it would actually take me more time. The ‘woman’s eyes‘ were made in two palette motions entirely. At first I thought to myself ‘Gosh, that’s heavier than I intended’. Strangely though I decided not to rework those two palette lines [‘eyes‘] for a second time.
How glad I am about that!
Every element about the lion’s face is rather unexplainable.
“The nose of a lion, is the mouth of a woman“. An ancient riddle? The canvas 100% abstract in shapes to me whilst painting. For days afterwards too.
Contrasting, attractive. A nebulae.
Personally I feel this abstract piece is a pure chance masterpiece. I am pleased to write of the artwork in this way.
My very own ‘Mona Lisa‘ in abstract form.
Jackapoo Pup with her Doughnut
My sketch âJackapoo Pup with her Doughnutâ is from a family photograph by my cousin of her adorable pup, now an energetic young dog. The prior week of making this artwork I saw this family dog happily in the garden with her doughnut.
The first draft took me 23 minutes 7 seconds and quite lovely already after the first draft. The second draft tidied at 6 minutes 16 seconds. Then a final draft of 8 minutes 8 seconds, an afterthought with a few finer details. 37 minutes 34 seconds in all.
Whilst I haven’t posted the original photograph it really is a very good likeness. The sketching is definitely my own style.
I made three fun digital versions of which ‘Silvered’ shown below is my favourite of those:
Along with the original sketch I feel âJackapoo Pup with her Doughnut – Silveredâ is a strong piece of its own merit. I can envisage this artwork pressed onto metal such as aluminium, copper or even silver.
The process would likely include garlic juice and oil paint. Finishing the piece with a gold frame.
I love both pieces here and hope you do too.
The Unfathomable Artist 