Painting from the imagination
Imagination
I think it is very important to project what you as an artist can imagine about the world about you. To do this I have to start from a complete jumbled mess of brushstrokes and colours and then gradually work area by area of the painting to resolve it into lots of separate images. This takes a long time and a lot of working and reworking to get the images and the colours exactly right.
Real images or shapes which make us think of images are so much more powerful than completely abstract works because they are so accessible to everyone. They may well be naif but are never simplistic.
I have worked for the last 28 years as a computer programmer making learning material for the automotive trade but have painted all my life and, now that I have retired, am spending much more time on art.
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Tree of Life
42 x 59 cm
We are descended from apes and so have a love of trees. Here all life goes on from the young couple kissing to the infant being lifted up by its parents. Meanwhile the branches and leaves are swaying in the breeze. -
Firebird
76 x 56
To obtain the hand of the tsarina the young prince, left foreground, has to play a beautiful song to attract the firebird, obtain a feather and call the two hunting dogs to show him his way back. -
Evening Star
29 x 21
Groups of figures dance on the cliff tops against the setting sun. At the top of the picture between the two silhouetted trees the evening star can be seen. -
Girl in the Vicarage Garden
21 x 24
A medusa-like girl gazes out from the painting against a sky threatening rain. Her hair has ringlets like snakes and note the ss insignia in her hair. Is she good or is she evil? You can't always tell. -
Song of the Birds
76 x 56
The white seabird in the middle of the picture sings her song and all the mysterious creatures from the land and sea rise up and start to dance. There is water of all sorts here - flooded fields, rushing sea, flowing streams and choppy backwaters each with its own unique compliment of animals. -
Yellow Jumper
44 x 32
This is an early painting and expresses an optimistic mood about Britain and the English countryside. The four smaller figures represent the artist and his family and the whole scene with the blue sky and the white scudding clouds shows the thoughts of the main figure in the yellow jumper. -
Jacob's Ladder
76 x 56
Jacob's Ladder shows a pathway from top to bottom of the picture which allows strange and surprising images to appear at every step. Some are more real than others but all are united by the emotional impact of their colour. -
Garden of Mirthly Delights
76 x 56
Inspired by Hieronymus Bosch's painting "the Garden of Earthly Delights" this picture shows all the strange, wonderful and sometimes awful things that go on in the world. -
Midnight Hour
29 x 21
Two young people, enrapped in themselves, dance to the music of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. Meanwhile things are not going quite so well for other couples on the dance floor - do they really like each other or not? -
Atomic World
76 x 56
As a girl sleeps under her comfortable quilt she dreams of a strange world unfolding around her. Trumpets sound and electrical sparks fly as a waterfall tumbles into the village. Is this all due to the mysterious atomic goings on deep beneath the blue waters in the centre of the picture?
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Comments
Alan Kestner
Thank you for your kind messages. You can see more of my paintings at Cornerstone gallery in Didcot, Oxfordshire. They are on the wall behind the information desk.
Monica Capoferri
Sat now in the Didcot Corner Stone and quite moved by your work. To be able to genuinely turn world's mess into harmony without compromising on either sorrow or beauty. Wow.
Michael Banks (Aardvark)
Stunning, imaginative, surreal and skilful. Why aren't you world famous? As a boring portrait artist I envy you your journeys to these other worlds. Keep doing what you do. To use a cliche, I was and am 'totally blown away,' by your work.
All the best. M.
Marius Els Photography
I can look at your paintings for hours, they are beautiful and captivating. Love, love them!
Anni Golemienko
I love your work. so inspirational. :)
anil pathak
Your work is truely gorgeous and so inspirational well done!
Julia Gabriel
A very impressive talent. May you go a long way.
Alan Kestner
Thank you for your kind messages. Both pictures are oil paint on paper. The Firebird is 56 x 76 cm (A1) and Dance the midnight Hour is 21 x 29.5 cm (A4). I have other painting you might like to see on ludwikart.com and there are more in the pipeline.
Alan
AT
Wow.. great work,,really draws you in :)
Pat
Beautiful pictures. What size are they?
Ingrid
Feels as though these were based on dreams. Beautiful work.
Sandra Streeting
Oh wow. This brings backs memories of past fun.
Sandra Streeting
Love this. Particularly the trees they almost move. In fact the whole painting is very lively.
vness
how amazin i love this piece it portrays such happiness, i feel like im actuallyenjoyin the party . i love your sense of colour and it is trullya work of of art you should be proud of.
sue
Superb!
jacki t buckley
beautifull, draws you in
very good
Mike Spencer
A superb and tremendous use of colour, patience, and time which has resulted in a totally absorbing and living painting (even down to the trees and backgrounds). Keep going !
Cecilia Montague
Your sense of colour is unique.The scenes that you paint with people music and dance are lively pieces of art.
james page
fantastic talent, colour rythms, harmony, joy storytelling at its best. an absaloute pleasure to see your work. keep on keeping on.
blodwyn
Beautiful colours great composition. Well done
Robert Major
Alan, your work is joyous and saturated with happiness, the detail is fantastic, thankyou !