Airbrush Painting


"As a genocide survivor, my heartfelt gratitude goes out to you for bringing attention to this evil which I hope one day will be eradicated from our world."
A Rwandan survivor who, at the age of nine, lost her entire family in a single day.


Airbrush Paintings by Denis Peterson        Airbrush Painting by Denis Peterson    


Paintings from left to right:
"Hotel Rwanda" 22x28 Acrylic on canvas
"Halfway to the Stars" 24x36 Acrylic on canvas


AIRBRUSH PAINTING BY DENIS PETERSON

"I was airbrushing paintings with acrylics in the early 1970's, something not done by photorealists, since acrylic paints clogged airbrushes which were designed for spraying inks and dyes. Later, acrylic paint companies began to produce "airbrush acrylic" colors which were essentially liquified acrylics. However, I still prefer to make my own copolymer and polyvinyl resinous based paint formulas to achieve the lush color glazes necessary for masterful photorealism paintings.

The Impact of Modern Paints by Tate conservators Jo Crook and Tom Lerner covers a wide range of painting preparation and experimentation with media, i.e. acrylic house paints (which I use.) This informative book has paint methodologies by Roy Lichtenstein, Morris Louis, Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, David Hockney and others. I do not use friskets in any of my work, as I find them somewhat offensive and intrusive in the process of free painting. Airbrush painting requires an unrestricted freedom of movement and impromptu laying in of colors. It is a rythmic process, but unlike traditional brush, with no tactile feedback for the paint touching the canvas.

David Hockney's book Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering Lost techniques of the Old Masters effectively validated the utilization of photography as a means for image referencing. My reference photographs are often extremely low resolution, and therefore I utilize intricate color patterns in the resulting fractalization - not unlike Pointillism.

I see order in chaos, balance in disharmony, using color as an abstract expressionist and lighting as a minimalist. In the above images, precise shading underscores the ethereal and powerful imagery. "Hotel Rwanda" was actually based on a single black and white photograph. By imagining color and color values, it was quite a challenge to create a color scheme that worked to clearly emphasize her sacred dignity and hope."


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PHOTOREALISM PAINTING HAS ITS ROOTS IN NEW REALISM, A MOVEMENT BEGUN BY PHOTOREALIST PAINTERS (A.K.A. PHOTOREALISTS) RALPH GOINGS, AUDREY FLACK, CHUCK CLOSE AND OTHERS. NEW REALISM (LATER COINED PHOTOREALISM BY LOUIS K. MEISEL) WAS AN OUTGROWTH OF POP ART WHICH SYMBOLIZED A HYPERREAL OR HYPERREALIST APPROACH TO REALITY REGARDING COMMERCIALIZATION, SYMBOLIZATION,AND REPRODUCTION. HYPERREALISM IS A RECOGNIZED SUBSET OF PHOTOREALIST PAINTING AND A DEFINITIVE STYLE.

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COPYRIGHT©DENIS PETERSON 2006, 2007 • ALL RIGHTS RESERVED