Artist paints to recovery
‘‘I was actually achieving something. I can’t stop doing it.’’
Russell Black
Russell Black had a dark cloud hanging over him. Life dealt Black a blow last year that spun him into a nervous breakdown but what was on the other side of it was colours on canvas.
‘‘Part of my recovery was discovering my art. It was very much the defining moment.’’
Black had ‘‘toyed’’ with art in the past, playing with abstract designs because it seemed the easiest outlet for creativity.
‘‘A few years ago I did do a few abstracts. I wanted to try art but didn’t think I had any skills. I had these ideas in my head but I couldn’t portray them.
‘‘I think some of my stuff was quite good but a lot was rubbish.’’
It wasn’t until mental illness hit him in July last year that his thirst for art was revitalised in a different discipline – portraits.
‘‘From when I’d been painting abstracts, I had this canvas I’d stored. I dredged this thing out and thought I’m gonna paint something. I did a self portrait. It’s a very angry piece’’.’’
It wasn’t a case of ‘good things take time’ for Black. He completed it in one session with not much paint and ‘‘big, busted up old chip brushes and a big house brush’’.
‘‘Afterwards, I saw it and I recognised myself in there. I’ve achieved something I thought I could never do. I still rate it as probably my best piece.’’
Since his emotions spewed out in full force onto the canvas, he’s settled down to some more peaceful pieces, including painting his granddaughter, his sons and his cats.
‘‘I was actually achieving something. I can’t stop doing it.’’
His portraits are big and bold, using acrylics and oil, often on board instead of canvas.
‘‘I started off with acrylic because I thought it was easier – the problem with acrylics is they dry very fast so it makes it harder to blend. Oil is more manipulative. I’ve discovered now, you can paint with both as long as you follow some rules.’’
Black recently put the finishing touches on a piece close to his heart – a painting of his late father who died three years ago.
His ‘‘camera shy’’ father didn’t have many photos taken of him so to recreate a rare, good photo of him was something Black could be proud of.
‘‘It’s a gift to my brother. My first real realism. A first attempt to make a painting just solely as a painting of a person without any artistry. It’s not photo real but it’s a recognisable portrait of a person.’’
He said he was ‘‘pretty happy’’ with it but ‘‘as an artist, all I see are the flaws’’.
Black recently packed up his first exhibition, Putting on a Brave Face, displayed at Nelson’s Art @ 203 Gallery.
There, his poetry and his paintings hung side by side and his prose told the story of the art.
He said he knew telling the story for the picture was almost ‘‘cheating’’.
‘‘I quite like to tell the story which is in my head as well’’.
Black’s head has been a place of darkness and light since last year, but he said the art may never have developed like it had without the breakdown.
‘‘I’d almost go so far as to say there’s been physical changes in my head to actually bring out this artistic side of my self that I didn’t actually think I had.’’
He said sometimes he looks at his art and goes ‘‘wow, I wish I was doing this 40 years ago, but maybe it wouldn’t have been like this’’.
Visit Black’s Facebook page at hazlito art for more information or contact information.