When viewed with an eye for detail and scientific understanding of color, form, mass, light, movement, composition and balance, this image presents a fascinating study of such elements. Transpiration was created as an experiment with complex color and form relationships. Anyone who understands the nature of color and its relationship to form in this arrangement will appreciate the exactness with which the elements are applied. The subject is indicative of the familiar color film process, where negative color film reveals the negative colors of the positive print colors it will render.
This image is also an example of complementary (negative versus positive) colors divided and reflected into horizontally opposite directions, then separated by positive and negative fragments of background colors in vertical bands at the point of division. The vertical division bands are also divided by segmented rectangular areas of complementary color, overlaid onto itself with some spot relief or emboss effect added. The emboss effect enhances or raises in relief, selected areas emphasizing the underlying texture or foundation on which the image is constructed.
The larger rectangle at the lower right of the central vertical division bands is an area of reversed background color, slightly embossed and with a drop-shadow added for the illusion of depth and dimension. The rectangles at the upper and lower ends of the vertical division bands are faded from positive color to negative color respectively. The broader left and right-hand divided background halves are each altered to give a slightly different composition of color and form for distinction, as each half was created from a single half, copied once from itself and reflected in negative color from the original side.
In the upper right background there are "wet look" areas created from matter in the surrounding color and density. The right center of the background is partially divided into square patterns of color, each carrying a hue, saturation and value that complies with the surrounding color space of their adjacent background areas. The overall balance of the total image area is influenced by the illusion of movement of translucent, reflective spheres emerging from the lower left and ascending to the upper right. They increase in size and detail, then distort and refract some of the texture and shape from the background areas over which they are located.
A slight interaction with the background and foreground elements with the spheres is indicated by the elongated, transitory attachment of one of the spheres (upper right corner of central rectangle), which appears to be a drop of floating translucent liquid touching and adhering to the rectangle. This sphere then flows along the length of the rectangle and sheds itself to the upper right with the flow pattern of the other spheres. Another sphere of liquid matter is forming from the background of warmer reddish tones in the lower right. The highlights on the spheres increase in intensity from lower left to upper right, responding to and approaching a high intensity light source outside the image frame. The spheres also give a slight illusion of depth of travel from the lower left distant background to the closer upper right foreground.
It should be noted that Transpiration was NOT created with some exact plan as it might appear in this description. This description is merely to inform the observer of the resulting facts and elements in the image. The process of creation was quite serendipitous.
Art, Mind and Soul
Artist and creator
Also see Jim Thompson's technical art web site at www.jt-techart.com