The ear worm ‘No colours anymore I want them to turn black’ went around and around in my head as I struggled to mix black with the oils I had. It was soon joined by another ‘You can’t always get what you want…’. The ear worms spun in my head long after I accepted that I wasn’t going to get a black – and that a rich, interesting dark brown was close enough – and they drove me to paint this!
Paint It Black by Helen Lock – Acrylic & Oil On Canvas 16″ * 12″
A little different to my usual WA flora themed paintings!
For those interested in how I painted it: I underpainted horizontal stripes in rainbow colours with acrylic paint, after masking out the centre circle. I then wiped out the rainbow with a hake brush heavily loaded with my dark oil mixture singing Paint It Black (it was okay no-one was around).
I let it dry for a few hours and then scratched out the words with feeling and the end of a paintbrush – but that didn’t work too well so I patiently lifted the oil paint with a brush, wishing my ‘passionate’ handwriting looked more emotive.
Hours later I removed the masking fluid which was now covered in acrylic and oil trying not to disturb the surrounding area – and thinking ‘this was a mad idea’. My principle of not giving in until I’m finished kicked in and I painted a rainbow of colours spiralling into a black hole within the circle before reinstating the missing parts of the letters over it.
Ha! Then I received an email about a painting competition with categories addressing mental illness – maybe I’ve an entry already!
🙂
Helen
helenlockcampbell 
Love it! Love the Stones, and the Stones songs get a play in my darker days too. Great piece of work x
Thanks heaps Shazzy – very pleased you like it 🙂 🙂
The painting fits well with the words. Both songs have strong messages of darkness and realization of what is, (and ones that I have enjoyed for the music more than the lyrics).
The painting is dramatic and powerful, it reaches out and confronts me somewhat. I think it is very good but it is vaugely disturbing. My belief that you have a great talent is clearly displayed.
Your perspective is interesting and I’m happy to have painted something that may mean different things to different viewers. Paint It Black is powerful, emotive, brilliant music and undeniably dark. You Cant Always Get What You Want however I think of as uplifting –
‘You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you might find
You get what you need’
I’m delighted / over the moon that you believe I have talent 🙂 xox
A change from the norm, I love it! It’s no less beautiful than your others and it is delightfully dark. Cheers and a good day
🙂 Thank you very much Scott. Things will be back to ‘normal’ shortly 🙂