What is it?

This is an acrylic painting on a 16×20 inch piece of canvas pad.

Depicted is a symmetric, geometric painting of various shapes, lines, and gems. In the very center of the painting there is a tiny blue portal. It’s not that the portal is actually tiny, just that it’s farthest away from the viewer’s perspective.

The alien, synthetic, technological appearance is symbolic of the new paradigm I acknowledge our species is creating and immersing itself in. I call it “Paradigm Portal” for this reason.

Why?

I wanted to create something synthetic looking. I wanted something symmetric and aesthetically pleasing and I wanted to make something close to my painting “Consciousness Storage Device”.

You can see how the color themes and visual ideas from this previous painting influenced the making of “Paradigm Portal”. The detailed line work is almost the same shape and color scheme, even the background copper tones of concentric circles leading into a blue center carried over into the more recent painting. I even used the same reflective copper paint.

I also wanted to mix things up a bit and add some of the new skills I learned from my painting “Suspended Enigma” into this painting. As you can see, I took the swirly, spherical white and blue orbs from “Suspended Enigma” and painted them into “Paradigm Portal”. I did’t just stick to orbs though, I used the same technique to make oval shaped gems on the edge of the painting as well as the much larger blue and white sections on the sides of the more recent painting.

How?

I started this piece by creating a graphite cross. This is the foundation of the artwork and allow for me to create the symmetric effect much easier.

I then draw the outline of the artwork in grahphite. I build up bit by bit, starting with a few basic shapes and expanding as I continue to maintain a symmetric appearance. Eventually my graphte outline is complete and I’m ready to start applying acrylic paint. Because graphite on canvas pad tends to smear easily I paint part of the outline with black paint.

Next, I start filling in the shapes and shading them.

Add some details…

Fill in the background and use a graphite pencil directly on the paper to create an outline for some of my line details..

And it’s done!

Conclusion

I really like the way this piece looks. I love how it shimmers as I move around the room, looking at it from different angles. I want to do this again, but next time I’d like to add more objects that emphasize depth in the painting. I’d just like to push the depth a little farther like I did in “Consciousness Storage Device.”

Thanks for reading! If you’d like to see purchasing options for this piece, click here.