Illusions Within Illusions · Spiritual Rebels

Illusions Within Illusions

My most recent painting has me thinking about the idea of illusions, perception, how our brains construct reality. This scene was carefully framed and certain elements were removed to make it look like something from a lush, green countryside. In actuality, this painting was created from a photo I took in the bottom of a storm water canal, in the middle of Phoenix, Arizona - the farthest thing from a lush, green countryside. You would never know just by looking at the painting that there is a big, concrete overpass just behind me and sprawling apartment complexes just to my left.

Painting itself is the art of creating illusions - creating the appearance of a vibrant, living, three-dimensional world on a flat piece of paper, using nothing but water and pigment. Using tricks of perspective, color theory, scale, contrast, and context to fool the brain into thinking it's looking at a real, living world. I took this picture in the middle of a sprawling, desert metropolis and created the illusion of a quiet, green countryside. An illusion within an illusion.

When I paint, I am the master of the world I create on the paper. I get to decide what to include, what to leave out, what kind of feeling I want to convey. If I don't like where that telephone pole sits in the reference photo? I delete it. If I want longer, more dramatic cast shadows? I add them. Easy as that. I have been practicing carrying this same confidence I have when I paint - the confidence to create reality itself - into my every day life.

Easier said than done, but I'm getting there.

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