Sept. Abstract Challenge (1)

[PaintBoss]

Welcome to the September abstract challenge!
This is to encourage artists of all levels to leap off from the ideas presented, and explore where that takes them in abstract form.
Any medium. Any size.
This is an open ended challenge for those who take a lot longer to finish pieces. This thread will remain open for any future updates so participants can add to the thread regarding their process/ work.
There are a variety of themes listed as jumping off points. It is wide open. And since some work faster, or if you are interested in more than one theme, you are welcome to do more than one theme if you like. Let us see your progress! Let us know your medium(s).
Themes are your choice from the list.
Let’s be supportive of one another.
Let us see what you’ve got!! Have fun!
THEMES:
Night- for ex. the mystery, the beauty of, etc
Change
Dreams
Claustrophobia
Mystery
Intensity
Life/Growth
Urban
Automation
Joy
OR
Magenta or pthalo green.
(Separate or combined)
OR
Angles and curves
OR
Dramatic
Dynamic
Tranquility
OR
For the love of paint
For the love of texture
For the love of colour
For the love of lines and shapes

 

[Enyaw]

That about covers infinity. I’m thinking tranquility but it’s early in the game.

 

[PaintBoss]

Yeah. I contemplated keeping some of the subjects back for another challenge. But because this is open ended, and it could take a year for some people to get done, I thought to leave it, so that people have other things to do and they can just keep adding to the thread. Part of me was like I don’t know if I want to limit this. I want anyone who comes to find something that appeals to them. And maybe even have ideas for another painting brewing in their head for later. I also thought some of the subjects that appeal to me might not appeal to others. Depending on their style or things they are interested in.
Glad you are here and found something!

 

[Hermes2020]

You have obviously given this challenge a lot of thought, so thank you for coming up with some good themes. I have never done anything like this, but I will have a bash at it!

I assume it will be OK to combine elements from different themes?

 

[Enyaw]

Glad you are here and found something!

Yup..was not meant in a critical way. I was thinking the playing field was wide open so everyone who cares to should find a shared thought to expand on.

 

[Donna T]

So many interesting choices! Thank you, Christine, now all I have to do is figure out which one(s) to try.

 

[PaintBoss]

Enyaw I’m glad you brought it up because it was something that was on my mind and I like hearing feedback from others. No worries.
Welcome Donna! Glad to see you here too!

 

[PaintBoss]

Hi Hermes. Welcome! Yes, you can combine anything anyway you like.
The first time I did abstract was when my husband challenged me. I wasn’t doing much of anything at the time. He is not an artist but thought that we could just throw some paint at a canvas. He knew I needed a fire set under me, and I think he wanted to cheer me up after a lot of illness. I said, oh I don’t think I can do that. He said, that’s Ok, there’s a lot of canvases and paint. I’m just gonna use some of that OK? I’m gonna try and make one. Of course that engaged me. So out to the garage we went and started, and I pulled out a bigger canvas and I thought I’m going to try. My husband quickly made mud. Realized you can’t just throw paint at a canvas without thinking about it and start messing around like you’re in kindergarten. Lol Of course he knew what he had to do to get me started. It worked. Once I started, I got into it. It took me three days because even though I had no plans, I was thinking very much of composition and the elements of design. What to put in, what to take out. Discovering happy accidents along the way. I was thoroughly engrossed and it turned out well. More than that, I really enjoyed it and I found it an excellent foil for my realism. It was good alternating. Later I would be thinking about what I could do next. I have a lot of family and friends who are used to realism and they don’t really understand abstract, but to my surprise, everybody started reacting to the abstract work far more than my other work! That was intriguing. I’m just playing around like everyone else. And I gave myself permission to. If I was curious about something, I tried it. So I hope if you haven’t tried any abstract, you will get engaged and have the same kind of adventure.

 

[PaintBoss]

For those wishing to understand abstract art more….Here is a good article on Exeeart.com by Suhail Mitoubsi, a non-representational abstract artist about what is abstract art.
It talks about it being self expression and self discovery. It can also be just for what it is. The medium. For example the effect of colour or textures.

What is Abstract Art - ezeeart

Why do people like abstract art, is it because it is an expressive visual langage or is it because abstract art purposely break all the rules.

www.ezeeart.com

 

[Triduana]

Thanks Christine. I'm definitely interested in taking part. I think leaving it open ended is a good idea! I've had an idea for a series of abstract images for a while now, and it would fit one of these themes perfectly, so you never know, I might get around to joining in

 

[PaintBoss]

I hope you join us Triduana! I would love to see what your ideas are. It could be a good motivator when you know a group is working together to show each other.
I would like to do a triptych(3) to wrap around my stairs that goes down to the basement. I have a beautiful plain wall. I mean, it would look nice just on the one wall. But I’d like to make it more interesting by wrapping it around. Would like it to be a landscape. (Not my strength). Gosh, maybe it could be four canvases. But some of you know that I’m already having trouble finishing one large landscape painting because of all the pine-needles and rocks. It’s just tedious. I could pick a slightly different style or a slightly different landscape. Well I can’t start it until I finish my other landscape. But I think it’s great to work a theme over a group of canvases.
Right now, I’m trying to figure out what size of canvas I want to work on for this abstract project. There are three directions I can take and I have to figure out which I want.

 

[Hermes2020]

.... So I hope if you haven’t tried any abstract, you will get engaged and have the same kind of adventure.

Thank you for welcoming me to the challenge. Actually, I have been painting abstracts for many years and I've shown a few on Creative Spark. Unlike many others here, I am simply not interested in painting realistic subjects; I probably lack the necessary skills! When I said I hadn't done this before, I meant that I have never painted anything in response to a given set of suggestions. That is the reason I am feeling a bit apprehensive and insecure.

 

[PaintBoss]

I understand that feeling if you’ve never done that before. But once you do and you get into it, it is a wonderful exercise. There is a lot of satisfaction in making a piece that works. That somehow conveys an abstract thought. or is beautiful or striking in its own right.
I enjoy working from nothing and creating something without a clear direct line. It can greatly stump the most literal types of people, I have noticed.
I advise anyone who might be unsure,
to treat it as an experiment. And then apply what you know about art to try and convey a good strong piece. Elements of design. The seven elements of art are line, shape, space, value, form, texture, and colour. Consider balance and imbalance in your work. Both can be effective.
Just start with mark making which can be done with anything. Think outside the box when choosing items to make interesting marks. It depends what you want the feel of the piece to be. Do you want it busy and with lots of variation? Do you want it calmer and more subdued? Perhaps then, long blended strokes are more effective. Then add or take away as you feel the piece needs to get closer to your intention.
Remember the last things that I had on my list were just to paint for the love of painting. You don’t have to have an over riding thought in mind. Just painting for the love of thick paint, or other textures. Or for the love of colour for example. It is art for its own sake.
I say this for anyone who might be reading and wondering how to go about this project as this may be new to people and people are at different levels of art knowledge and experience. This is the project to experiment with! You’re not tied to realism at all. You are free to go where it takes you!

 

[Hermes2020]

Thank you Christine. What you say makes a lot of sense to me. The older I get, the more I regret not taking any academic art courses. At least now, after retirement, I have the freedom to play at making art. I love that you encourage us to experiment, which is something that gives me so much satisfaction.

 

[Enyaw]

I finished mine this morning but it needs to cure over for a night before I get a picture. Strange how you start with an idea and then the idea leads you. I won't call it mellow yellow or tranquil as it took it's own light and mood as the painting progressed. I will look again tomorrow and then decide as to what category it actually ended up being in. Hopefully not junk and if not junk I will post it. If it's junk then I will junk it and proceed to the next attempt.

 

[Hermes2020]

I finished mine this morning but it needs to cure over for a night before I get a picture. Strange how you start with an idea and then the idea leads you. I won't call it mellow yellow or tranquil as it took it's own light and mood as the painting progressed. I will look again tomorrow and then decide as to what category it actually ended up being in. Hopefully not junk and if not junk I will post it. If it's junk then I will junk it and proceed to the next attempt.

How on earth do you do that? I am still wondering what to do! You are a combination of Picasso and Mozart in Creative Spark.

 

[Enyaw]

You are a combination of Picasso and Mozart in Creative Spark

… wow .. I wish. .. it’s the alla prima .. been painting in one session so long I can’t do layers or selective spots as I work on the whole. Hopefully the piece still has hold of me tomorrow. I always get shocked as they seem better or worse but never so much in the same glow as when I finish the piece.

 

[Artyczar]

This is a great start. Since it's the 1st, I came to check out the thread, and I love how you made it open-ended, as Kay said. There's lots of great prompts to jump off from It gives endless trajectories, which is pretty much "anything goes." Abstract is all about freedom, so thank you!

For me, it's all about thinking and contemplating first. I imagine what it looks like in my mind, kind of like a lucid, drunken dream. Hard to explain. Then, I draw first. I may make a few drawings until it all comes into focus. Perhaps once I get a drawing I'm into for this, I'll share that as part of the process. Sharing my process makes me feel a bit vulnerable, but I'll do it! Ha ha. I seem to be attracted to "lines" from the list, which might be different for me.

 

[Artyczar]

I love this Paul Klee quote: "A line is a dot that went for a walk. A drawing is simply a line going for a walk. Art does not reproduce what we see; rather, it makes us see."

 

[Enyaw]

Ok. Going for a mini holiday this week so tying up loose ends so I can key in on what I need for the trip. Anyway, here is my offering. This is 9 x 12 inches oil on paper .. Alla Prima .. painted Sept 1/24. .. I guess it would fit under for love of colour.

I originally stained the paper with yellows and purple blues and was intending to do a soft abstract rendering of flowers. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the stain but it would have worked for my intentions. However, once I started adding the pure color over the stain, things started shaping in my mind. I abandoned any thought of making something I wanted to in lieu of helping what I was seeing develop. Mostly, while I was painting, the images in my mind were boats and trees and so I let my knife make marks that to me represented boats and trees. I can tell you I use Ultramarine Blue, Quin Magenta, Yellow Ochre, Indian Yellow, Lemon Yellow, and Titanium White.