Original artwork description:

‘Cosmos’ was my first painting of 2024. Many of us of a certain age remember the amazing TV series called ‘Cosmos – A Personal Journey’, which was written and presented by Carl Sagan. It is now over 40 years since it first aired, but it is still the best popular series on our incredible universe.

‘Cosmos’ is my homage to Carl Sagan. Although ‘Cosmos’ is a black and white or monochrome painting it has a great vitality. The interaction of various white, grey and black paint produces some intricate details. It is a painting that can be enjoyed at distances from a few metres to a few cms. The detailed photos show how it looks close up. You could even take a magnifying glass to it and see more details.

‘Cosmos’ did not start out as an attempt to portray our wonderful universe. I started with an underlying regular pattern of black stripes that formed 24 rectangles (as it was the start of 2024). I added black and white paint but the stripes were too wide and dominant, so after adding further paint by flicking and pouring I used a long piece of plastic to beak up and distribute the paint and partially obscure the black lines. More paint (black, white and grey) was added by pouring directly onto the canvas or by flicking. Small areas of black paint were added from the tip of a small palette knife. This was followed by more dripping and flicking of gray paint.

The following day more white, grey and black paint was added with a palette knife. Finally the edges were painted in neutral grey and the title ‘Cosmos’ came to me.

Materials used:

Acrylic paint applied with brushes, palette knives, pipettes, pouring and flicking.

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