The Mediterranean Sea View

Hi all, I am back after a long time. I have been busy with my school work. One would have thought that although the Junior year is expected to be busy, I would at least have some time to write my blogs. However, it turned out to be a hell of a busy year. However, I am back now, and I am going to talk about one of my paintings. Hopefully I will write my blogs more often from now on.

Every artist needs this. Every artist needs that certain unique intersection between a topic of interest and their craft. For me, that topic of interest has always been “history”. A spark of interest derived from an innate curiosity in the human experiences, which was stoked with the pages of famous literary works such as, “The Iliad'' by Homer and “The Book of the Dead'' by an unknown author, into a roaring fire of passion. The fire that was my fascination with history naturally intertwined with my love for oil painting, so that the two became a joyful heart of care and diligence. Today I am excited to share the process behind creating one of my most nostalgic paintings that I dub, “The Mediterranean Sea View''. I will be delving into personal experiences that led to why I chose this painting, and inspiration that I had considered in personalizing it. 

The primary inspiration for this painting was the stunning Greek landscape. My travels to Greece five years prior left an undeniable mark on me. Although my hotel was situated in Syntagma Square, Athens, it was the typical scenes in the beach towns that truly captivated me. The contrast in architecture between the bustling mainland and the serene coastal homes both surprised and intrigued me. A difference so undeniably inspired by one another, yet strikingly different; and totally other. A contrast that played a significant role in shaping the painting's core aesthetics. 

Back home, during art class, I found a photograph of a painting that invoked a sense of nostalgia I had been toying with ever since I had left Greece. Drawing from the ample and pristine well of ancient Greek art, I was particularly attracted to the simplicity with which the Greeks achieved the best visual outcome with minimalistic elements in their various mediums ranging from bronze sculptures to (and most notably) pottery paintings. This inspired me to approach my painting with a similar philosophy, focusing on simplicity through the blocky paint strokes to capture the beauty of the mediterranean-coastal-city-scape. This painting meant a lot to me not only  because of its personal meaning and challenging process, but also because of the cultural and historical connections it shares with the Greek people. Through this painting I aimed to emulate the same peace and hospitality I experienced in Greece, the warmth and kindness of the people left me with.  To convey this, I used bright, cheerful colors to instill happiness and comfort in the viewer.

When I started painting this, initially I struggled with incorporating “sunlight” into the painting. Or rather, the simulation of sunlight. My first attempts resulted in a dull, and uninspiring piece. However, through experimentation with various pigmentations I was able to achieve the desired effect, resulting in a painting that seemed to capture the bright sunny day that I had envisioned. 

Creating this painting was difficult at the time to say the least. The blending of my love for history and artistic expression was, at first, a philosophy rather than a feasible technique. However, with help from my Art Teacher, manipulation of various colors to convey different emotions, and the deployment of simplistic techniques I was able to achieve the desired effect that not only stood testament to my personal experiences, but also allowed the viewer to understand the inspiration that was drawn from the Greek landscapes and culture without aforementioned explanation. If you enjoyed this blog, my name is Gautham Ramachandran. Thanks for joining me, and I look forward to sharing more work with you in the future!