Tag Archives: International Amateur Artist Exhibition

Fluorescephant continuous line to Irrelephant Elephant in 50 years

Leave a reply

I have just had my 80th Birthday and received two cards which both stated “Remember… age is irrelephant!” along with a picture of an Elephant.  Here is one of them below.

Birthday card “80 years young” and “age is irrelephant!” by Pigment Productions Ltd.

This reminded me of my continuous line elephant with colour sequence which was exhibited at the International Amateur Art Exhibition, at Warwick Square Gallery, London, in February 1973 and at the National Society Open Exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London, in March 1973.  It is the forerunner of “Elephant Grass” at the top of these posts.  I call it “Fluorescephant”.

“Fluorescephant” continuous line exhibited at the International Amateur Open Exhibition and at the National Society Open Exhibition in 1973.

My flatmate Phil suggested that I call it “Fluorescephant”, which I thought was an excellent suggestion.  This word is still uniquely referenced to me on Google.  When I googled “irrelephant” some dictionaries say that it means “Not related to elephants: irrelevant to the discussion of elephants”.

One image that popped up was actually a single continuous line elephant which appears on a shirt produced by “Spreadshirt”.  I am impressed, even though they say that my opinion is irrelephant.

Single continuous line Elephant “Your opinion is irrelephant” on shirt produced by “Spreadshirt”.

This play on words is a bit like “Answersmash”, a game played on the TV game show “House of Games” presented by Richard Osman.

Being 80 triggers all sorts of daft thoughts.  I have told people that I was wondering about Best Before dates on things.  I have decided to adopt one for myself.  About 10 years ago, at a table tennis venue where the home team had a box of wrapped biscuits for visitors, we joked that most of them were past their “Best before dates”.  But I found one that was fine and it’s date was 29.04.3013.  That will do for me!

Cadbury Flake wrapper Best Before Date of 29.04.3013. Mick Burton, continuous line artist.

 

 

 

Twisting, Overlapping, Envelope Elephant. Continuous Line Drawing colouring.

Leave a reply

“Fluorescephant”, the original version of “Elephant Grass” which is at the top of this continuous line blog, was my first successful Colour Sequence painting.  The sequence ran from yellow through greens to blues in steps of colour and tones which gave a natural three dimensional effect and dynamism.  Part of this was the overlapping nature of continuous lines which was reflected by the successive darker colouring.

The painting was accepted for the International Amateur Artist exhibition, in Warwick Square London, in February 1973 and then a month later in the National Society annual open exhibition in the Mall Galleries.

Fluorescephant. Continuous line drawing with colour sequence. National Society Open Exhibition, Mall Gallery, London, 1973. Mick Burton.

Fluorescephant. Continuous line drawing with colour sequence. National Society Open Exhibition, Mall Gallery, London, 1973. Mick Burton.

I was never totally happy with the colouring.  I thought that there was an extra natural effect, on top of the overlapping, which I was missing.  When I started my art again in 2012, after a gap of nearly 40 years, I once more tried to sort this out.  I realised that I could enhance the twisting of the design and highlight gaps where the outside would show through.

Here is the result, “Twisting, Overlapping, Envelope Elephant”.  Imagine that the continuous lines are describing a sheet of plastic, which is coloured Blue on the front and Red on the back.  Each time a twist occurs, against the outside background, then I colour it Red.  When the overlaps build up, the shades of the blue front go darker blue, and the shades of the twisted areas become darker red.  Where the blue front and the red back occasionally overlap, then I use violet to reflect the mix.

This continuous line drawing is coloured to represent a

This continuous line drawing is coloured to represent a “Twisting, Overlapping, Envelope Elephant”, which is Blue on one side and Red on the other. Mick Burton, 2013.

You can see considerable areas of background colour within the animal showing through. This looks natural within the form of the elephant.

The blue areas, including darker blue overlaps, are the same as the blue areas in the “Fluorescephant”, so it is good to keep a large part of the original colour sequence in this change of style.