Overlapping shapes

[Perry]

This is 8x10, acrylic on watercolor paper.
I had no idea how to come up with an idea for an abstract
so I just did a bunch of thumbnail sketches. I just arranged
shapes in many different ways until I came up with one that
I thought would work and went from there.
I wanted to keep the values light in this.
C&C welcome

 

[Enyaw]

you have achieved spacial separation .. that's a good thing in my book. Reminds me of balloons floating away

 

[Donna T]

Such a calm palette of colors for this, Perry. I like the shapes and composition very much.

 

[Artyczar]

I'm interested in what inspired the composition. It's very compelling. The palette too. I love the three-quarter background, it's a smart touch to the overall concept. Very good!

 

[Terri]

Perry, I really love your work - so soft, so compelling. I don't always understand how you get here, but I am enjoying the finish lines!

 

[Mindy Zielfelder]

I like the arrangement, and the balance of curved and angular shapes and sizes., along with the layering of shapes on top of shapes. I can see how the shapes have some tonal variation to appear more 3-dimensional, though maybe you could push that a little bit if that was your intent? And perhaps do the same to the "background" underneath, almost like a shadow. I am a big fan of the lighter shades. I think the background layer is a bit desaturated, maybe non-committal grayish-brownish. The values are for the most part very similar. How did you imagine you wanted it to look - were you thinking of something muted/quiet, or did you want the colors to pop?

 

[Perry]

Wayne and Donna thank you.

Thanks Arty, I didn't want any part of this piece to represent anything real.
I usually do representative art where I have to arrange existing shapes
in a pleasing composition. Having to create these shapes that are pleasing to
the eye is where the challenge for me is. Arranging them was hit or miss
with a lot of thumbnails. My inspiration was from artwork from an artist
I've been looking at recently, Giorgio Morandi. He used subtle tonal changes
in his art and I liked how it made me feel when I looked at it. Here's an example.

 

[Perry]

Thanks Mindy, I wanted this piece to be muted and quiet.
I agree the values are very close and the background is desaturated.
Here's a black and white where you can see values only.

 

[Artyczar]

LOVE your inspiration. I can see it, and you did a lovely job!

 

[Perry]

Thanks again Arty.

 

[classic]

In fact, I see me too an attempt to give a 3dimensional character, at least for some of the shapes.
I used to draw/sketch similar overlapping shapes with graphite pencil or color pencils or usual ball pen on paper at school or at home, mostly when bored. Sometimes the result was interesting, due to the specific shapes, or the shading contrasts or the entire composition. What I had in mind was to have shade values or colors or shading patterns uniformly distributed all over the shape.
Of course, your piece above is much more elaborated!

 

[Perry]

Cool classic, sometimes surprising things when we are just playing around.