The original narrative of the ‘Dragon and Owls’ painting did not involve fire. The storyline was that a dragon got hurt in the forest (for unknown reason) and owls healed it. Let me give you a backstory of how the ‘fire in the forest’ idea came about.
Like I mentioned in the previous blog post, Evija had a hard time choosing the fairy tale for further development. Beside ‘Dragon and Owls’ fairy tale, she also really like the ‘Fox and Wolf in the Bushes’. In the storyline, a fox and a wolf met by a bonfire. The story was inspired by Adele’s drawing of ‘The Bushes’, and Evija’s ‘The Fire’ (see the image below). This gave me an idea that the forest, where the dragon got hurt, could be on fire. It turned out there were many motives why this idea was so appropriate.
Firstly, the forest on fire could be a good reason why the dragon got hurt, while in the original story the reason was not mentioned.
Secondly, the family of the sisters lived nearby a forest (Kuršių nerijos miškai), which was on fire two times in the last two decades.
The third reason I already mentioned – Evija really loved their fairy tale with a bonfire. Moreover, her drawing of the fire was very original in my eyes. When I was wondering on how it could be included in the forest composition, it seemed it would be an easy task. The trees painted by Adele were saturated with ‘heavy’ and dark colours, while the fire by Evija was drawn with lighter marks using charcoal and coloured pencil. Therefore, the gaps in between the vivid tree trunks and branches could be filled with light marks of charcoal and orange pencil making the fire there yet somewhat ghostly. That sounded like a great idea especially when ambiguous features are always celebrated.
This idea made me research modern artworks involving elements of fire. I found interesting examples by Dorothea Tanning (1910 – 2012) and Paul Klee (1879-1940).
The works by contemporary artist John Vusi Mfupi (b.1977) gave me an idea that I could portray the forest by collaging burnt pieces of paper. However, this idea was not selected for further development.
The most inspiring works I found was by Joan Miro (1893-1983). He made a series of painting and burnt large holes in them. I thought that I could also burn out some gaps in the forest area of my painting but sisters’ family did not approve this idea. In their opinion, burnt canvases are more appropriate in galleries than at home. (I considered that as a good thing as I had way too many ideas resembling fire in the forest.)
The idea that was approved by the family was inspired also by Joan Miro’s artwork. From what I read on how Miro works, my guess it that he made this image using colour lithograph technique, the outcome reminded him of fire flames and then it was titled ‘The Fire Dance’. Indeed, the red marks resemble fire. If you have been working a lot with experimental painting, you may know that these type of marks are very unique and probably impossible to replicate without lithograph technique.
Nonetheless, I thought I would figure something out so I decided to present this idea to the family. It was approved (along with including mark-making from Evija’s drawing fire) as long as the marks did not overwhelm the forest.
When it came to making the fire marks, I discovered that I could make original shapes by applying diluted paint on canvas and then blowing the wet red puddle with a straw. (In fact, I learned this technique from the sisters, and Adele made her forest drawing using this technique.) The splashes go in unexpected directions and the outcome resembled fire flames.
Below are details of the final painting.
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