Vine of Axum
This is the last painting I painted on the concept of Axum. However, I am interested in using elements of Axum in my future paintings because they are apart of my artistic techniques. Basically, I will not be evolving the concept of Axum but taking the elements from it and incorporate it into other ideas.
This painting is different from any other painting because I used the medium of oil paint and used it to make it look like watercolor. I have also created it using pastel colors to make it look more like a drawing. This was the challenging part but it is also the same part that gives the painting its quality.
The circles, birds, Axum, and the leaves represent my personal ambitions and pride I have for Ethiopia but in an abstract way. As a verb, “to abstract” means to take from, to extract the essence of a thing or idea. In a basic sense, of course, all art is abstract because it is not possible for the artist to reproduce exactly what is seen. Other good examples of abstract artists include: William De Kooning, Richard Diebenkorn and Lee Bontecou. Nevertheless, abstract cannot be naturally in you but it is something that needs to be developed over time as a language.
