I want to share with you a technique that I learned from studying Clovis Trouille’s process.
I learned from « my spiritual grandfather » that you can continue to work on a painting for as much as 19 years! Like he did on Bateau ivre, above.
A finished painting that irritates and is unsatisfying can be redeemed after careful study of what doesn’t work and asking what the painting needs in order for it to function better. Time is the only necessity to finding the solution. Clovis Trouille would work for years on a painting, coming back to it again and again.
I came to realise that personal evolution begins with the act of questioning oneself. Afterwards, there is a risk to take, to come back, to re-evaluate the work that we thought was finished and which turns out to be unfinished in hindsight. With questioning comes an opening.
The inspiration for my painting Alice’s Voyage came from the influences of : Chinese label art and living near Chinatown in San Francisco.
The inititual drawing was spontaneous, made during a train journey between Paris and the Côte d’Azur.
This poster was a first digital attempt at colors and shapes.
Alice’s Journey before: this stage is all acrylic. It was this painting that got me so frustrated with acrylic that I decided to try oil paint. What did frustrate me? I couldn’t get good blending in the skin tone, the paint dries too fast. And it is too opaque.
It is with this picture and its frustrations that came my decision and motivation to switch to oil. It became clear to me that with acrylic, I could no longer move forward. I couldn’t achieve the blending of colors necessary to make a convincing skin tone.
Alice’s Journey after: the skin tones are so much richer, the blending is better but could still be improved.
Inspiration for the pallette come from this photo by Jim Walker:
After re-examination, I decided to revisit Alice’s Voyage with oil for a smoother gradient and richer, deeper colors. I was motivated by a similar experience, with my painting “La Gitane”.
At the time that I finished La Gitane, I had a deadline, and a lot of things to finish. I wanted to do her “makeup”, but there wasn’t enough time. The deadline for sending the painting to the gallery was coming up, and despite my doubts, I put on a coat of varnish. With acrylic, you can’t go back on a coat of varnish. I looked at this painting with frustration for years, I don’t like having regrets. I finally got the courage to re-do her skin, also adding a dragon tattoo, details to the lettering and highlights in her hair
I did a little research, I read that you can put oil paint on top of varnish. Wanting to try this technique for a while, these are my first attempts. All of her skin is revisited, her hair, and touches added to the lettering. Her eyes now look mysterious, I added her dragon tattoo as a reminder of the tattoo instrument hidden in the crystal ball.
For “Hong Kong Hokum,” I caught the same bug. Re-evaluate, because I’m not satisfied. It was too childish and didn’t express my desired effect. It took me a while before I decided how to improve it. The girl and bike needed more movement and the girl needed a more nonchalant attitude.
I added movement with the same birds as Alice’s voyage. Now, I’m happy that these two paintings echo each other. Unhappy with bicycle, (it was too static), I added the flying tiger. I added decoration and shadows to the lanterns. I changed her head and hair, keeping the hat. I added fog to the city. And I added reflections to windows, details to the buildings.
In an exposition of Clovis Trouille that I was lucky enough to have seen in L’île D’Adam which you can read about here:
Another article about Clovis