Bloom Series
The Bloom Series paintings are intended to evoke images of fields of flowers. Up close they are colorful, abstract messes, but as you move away, the compositions reveal themselves. They walk the fine line between abstraction and representation. A unique quality of Freed Paintings is their inherent physical depth. That quality seems to be accentuated in the Bloom Series paintings. A process that I call “bombing”, which is dropping spoon full-size blobs of paint on the paint strands is used with great effect on these paintings. Altogether, I believe the Bloom Series paintings will rival renowned Impressionist paintings such as Monet’s Waterlilies or Van Gogh’s Irises.
Gorman Bloom
“Gorman Bloom” is the first in my Bloom Series. Gorman is located about an hour north of Los Angeles on a part of Highway 5 known as the “Grape Vine”. The area is rich with rolling hills, mountains, and wind. Under the right conditions in springtime, the area will be loaded with wildflowers of all colors. This painting is intended to render that abundance.
The painting that you see was completed in two parts. The central panel was completed at the beginning of May 2020, but later in the month I decided that the painting needed to be larger, so I prepared to double its size. The two flanking panels were completed in late October 2020.
“Gorman Bloom” takes full advantage of a technique that I call “bombing”, where I drop small blobs of paint onto the paint strands. The splatters make a beautiful mess. The painting builds up in layers of progressively shorter strands, working with long strands at the bottom to shorter strands near the top, strategically “bombing” varying colors along the way in varying amounts to get the desired result. The process is loads of fun and produces a spectacular result.
I plan on at least five more paintings done at an even larger scale. I think the resulting paintings will rival Impressionist works such as Monet’s Waterlilies and Van Gogh’s Irises.
Central panel completed 5-1-2020
Central panel dimension: H: 72″ X W: 72″
Expansion completed 10-25-2020.
Final completed dimension after expansion: H: 72″ X W: 144″