Chlorella Fresco
I was so captivated by this microscopic green algae that I decided to paint it, and large! I imagined the composition of overlapping circles, and using the full sweep of my arm. All while contemplating the little photosynthesizers.
Chlorella was a research organism used to study and understand cell respiration, and the process of photosynthesis. Nobel prize-winning Melvin Calvin (of the Calvin Cycle) worked with Chlorella… and it may fog the waters of your very own home aquarium.
Painting’s progress
After making a panel of plaster on burlap, I started painting with watered down ink, to find the positions and sizes of the circles. And rearranged them, shifted them, removed and put them back, until the composition was dynamic and balanced enough.
With the piece flat on the floor, I let the ink (darker now) form pools and started to define the white edges. Later, upright, I painted layers of mineral pigments into the centers of the algae spheres, aiming for GREEN. The lemony-est yellow, and gold, layered with blue and a beautiful turquoise that still was too pale. I burnished to intensify the colors, sanded back to white in places, on and on. And on.
See this and other “Magnified” artwork on my Facebook page “Art of Krista Anandakuttan”
Chlorella Fresco, Krista Anandakuttan 2014