About Looking Up / Crucifix
‘Looking Up / Crucifix‘ – The Artworks of RUSSELL RISKO. A semiabstract painting of a Bristlecone Pine subject. A new addition to my ongoing Looking Up Series. It was in the spirit of the holidays as I developed this painting. Thoughts of Christmas and how Christmas trees have become a universal symbol of the Christian holidays. However, the lifecycle of the Bristlecone Pine, the world’s longest living pine species, transcends Christendom (AD) by almost 3,000 years.
The Bristlecone Pine notwithstanding, the painting’s title, ‘Looking up / Crucifix’ acknowledges the Christian holiday and also a crucifixion abstraction… a composition based on a representation of a cross with a figure of Jesus Christ on it.
Vision Statement
The Looking Up Series explores the divergence and deviation symbolized through anatomical tree branch structures and negative/positive leaf cluster patterns. I find the near-to-far points of view interesting, as they offer a challenging opportunity to create. This, along with earth-to-sky perspectives, provide areas of visual interest that may otherwise go undetected and unexplored.
The Grisaille Technique
The creation of this painting employs a Grisaille form of underpainting (or in my case – an underdrawing) along with watercolor glazes. A Grisaille (pronounced, gree-zay) is a form of drawing or painting that involves a detailed, monochromatic image, often created entirely in black, white and shades of gray. In many cases, the next step is to glaze color over the grisaille, to create a finished drawing or painting. It helps the artist see values and shapes correctly, it aids in matching colors to values, and it also lends unity to the painting.
Great Basin Bristlecone
The Great Basin Bristlecone Pines (Pinus longaeva) are an extremely rare species of tree found nowhere else in the world but California, Nevada and Utah. Among their most interesting characteristics is that they are found at only the highest elevations (between 5,600 and 11,200 ft.) where nothing else seems to grow.
This strange tree (The Methuselah right), shaped by the wind, snow, and rain has survived over thousands of years, overseeing the rise and fall of great empires, growing through ice-ages and catastrophic volcanic eruptions. But their ability to survive these harsh environments and adverse growing conditions is exactly their secret to great longevity.
A Great Basin Bristlecone pine once recorded as the oldest tree in the world, estimated between 4700-5000 years-old.
About the Artist
Russell Risko is a Graphic Designer, Illustrator and Fine Artist. During his 40-year career as a visual communicator, Russ achieved leadership roles as Art Director, Creative Director, Principal Partner and Ad Agency President. His work has appeared in countless regional, national and e-zine publications and website properties.
Today, Russ has entered the final chapter of his career, unfettered by the “need-it-yesterday” time constraints of the advertising and marketing world. Now in retirement, he has the opportunity to move beyond his commercial art past and exercise his fine art instincts, to give birth to new visual perspectives and to invest in the time necessary for such exploration.
Contact me on Instagram if you have any questions or interest in available artworks.