Mitchell Chmielewski Art

Mitchell Chmielewski

Wrathful Aura in Void, 2024

Acrylic on canvas board

11×14 in

I created this piece on a morning I was feeling especially irritable. I do not recall the source of the anger, but I felt it deeply. In an attempt to distract myself from these feelings, I got everything ready to paint. As a discovery painting, I had no idea what I would produce, so I started with a circle.

I became entranced by the circle, so it became the entire focus of efforts. Black, blue, red, purple; even a little white to make it pop. Try as I might, I just couldn’t get to a place I was satisfied at. Fueled by the frustration, I sought out other means of transforming the canvas board.

I had a spray bottle full of water, and I had a container of rubbing alcohol. In my curiosity, I wondered how I could use these to achieve an interesting effect, so I began using them to blend and remove layers. Water was good for removing excess, but I was pleasantly surprised by the rubbing alcohol.

As a medium, it seemed to have a way of muting and flattening the image in a way I found intriguing. It also allowed me to make use of the natural texture of the canvas board and to create pleasing arcs within and out of the central circle. This method captured me from then on. The rest of piece was based around adding and removing layers. I was able to achieve a glowing halo effect with the purple, external circle; while the cobalt blue negative space provided a backdrop that allowed everything to pop.

As I completed the image, I understood it was my own anger before me. Staring at it, I could almost see the inner circle throbbing as the outer one pulsed with toxicity, hoping to infect.