My Lebanon

Title: My Lebanon.

Year: January 1999.

Materials: Acrylic on Canson carton.

Behind the Brush: The Cedars: the symbolic tree of Lebanon. The sign of the Lebanese’s

endurance, the ever-youthful spirit of the citizens, and the white-haired cranium after many years of war, civil war, and chaos. The blue horizon is calmly portraying how our dreams appear to be when we think of an ideal moment about something we like. Two houses and more are among the snow waiting visitors and expecting company, warm conversations, booze, and maybe some things more.
The fence is Reality in its abstract/concrete existence, separating the greenish trees and the cultivated pastures and the bare trees express the state of man in front of the changing nature around him and his volition to surpass and outcome every obstacle.

Techniques: (1) Alla Prima

Alla Prima is an Italian term meaning ‘at first’, and it describes the paintings completed in one session. This necessarily involves working wet into wet rather than allowing a first layer to dry before others are added. The essential characteristic of alla prima is that there is no initial underpainting as such, although artists often make a rapid underdrawing in pencil or charcoal to establish the main lines.

After the introduction of tubed paint in the mid-19th century, artists were able to work outdoors more easily. This plein air painting, as it is called, first undertaken artists as Constable and Corot, and later the Impressionists, established the rapid and direct alla prima approach as an accepted technique. Hitherto oil painting had been largely a studio activity as pigment had to be ground by hand, and paintings were built up slowly in a series of layers.

The direct method creates a lively and free effect that is seldom seen in more deliberate studio paintings, which is clearly shown in the work of Constable. Working alla prima requires some confidence, as each patch of color is laid down more or less as it will appear in the finished picture. Any modifications and reworking must be kept to a minimum so that the fresh effect is not destroyed.

It is a good idea to use a limited palette, as too wide a choice of colors may tempt you to put in too much detail – there is no room for nonessentials in alla prima painting. It is usually easiest to leave the lightest and darkest passages to the end so that the brush strokes used for these lie undisturbed on top of adjacent colors without mixing and muddying.

All my paintings were done through this technique. That is why they give the impression as if they are preludes to paintings more than completely finished ones. But, in fact, the technique enabled me to freely express myself without much focus upon deliberately added details that would be truly for a genuine artistic reasons, not for merely expressing one's direct ideas and images!

Of course, my brush is still at its embryonic stage. There are many mistakes .. many faults .. lots of misplaced strokes .. or dull colors .. but, I am in the process of becoming better, and I wanted here to share my beginnings .. as well as I am intending to share - later on - my masterpieces!!