Sept. Abstract Challenge (1)

[PaintBoss]

Thank you Donna. I am in good spirits so that is half the battle.
The big take away from all the books and pictures and videos, etc. is that there are many many ways to express yourself. There’s no one way. I want you to enjoy it, so give yourself permission not to know exactly what you’re going to do and just do / be. Give yourself permission to let instinct be your guide. It can be really fun to work that way and not know where you’re going to end up and just play step to step. sometimes the biggest step is the first one.
I’m so happy to hear you’re going to do more. Look forward to seeing what is next.
This is permission to play!

 

[Hermes2020]

Wow, what a terrible ordeal you've gone through. Thank goodness you weren't alone. I wish you a speedy recovery and hope you don't suffer any delayed reactions from damaged ligaments.

 

[PaintBoss]

Thanks so much Hermes.
Yeah the neck and shoulder and the hip are affected. Hip is affecting standing and walking- so some things are appearing. Swollen arms. But I am determined.
I want the drama in my art, not in my life!
Keep the art coming, happy discoveries!

 

[Mississippi Hippie]

I’m thinking I’ll try to make my abstract something that doesn’t look painted by me, but with my personality? This will be a challenge for sure!! I’m visualizing splatters, thin paint but my mind is saying go thick with impasto because I don’t do that. I could use materials and mediums I don’t use. So many possibilities. Good timing because getting out of my comfort zone would be satisfying lately. I’m going to do phalo green and magenta, for love of shapes and lines, and dream/mystery are calling me. I’m a fast worker, and I’ll try to work in a slow technique.

 

[PaintBoss]

Sounds great Hippie. I like your idea of a different style but still your personality. I like to think abstract is easier to convey your personality. Look forward to seeing what you do.

 

[Mississippi Hippie]

This is a drawing I made for ‘dream’. I couldn’t fully kick drawing fast, but in at least an instance I took it into account and applied it. I want to finish a painting for this challenge, I bet I will, I’m just making semi-abstracts lately and the rules are making me do something different, good thing. Plus I thought I’d try abstract with pencil for different medium. I suppose this may be semi-abstract as well, as it’s a dream of abstract images I’ve experienced, but hell if it ain’t trying.

 

[PaintBoss]

Very good Hippy. I really appreciate you taking the challenge to heart and taking time to slow down and approach your art in a new way. I don’t think this is semi abstract at all. Choosing pencil is totally legitimate and may take a little more effort. I like that you chose it.
Now is this the final image or the beginning? With pencil you could go further with shading, layers, hatching. Even put softer graphite on and blending or removing with kneaded or regular erasers. How you erase- creating lines or shapes or softer areas could be applied- while still maintaining your linear squares etc you have here. Just a thought.
I hope you do get a painting done! Thank you for sharing this and your thoughts. Keep going!

 

[Mississippi Hippie]

I would love to use erasing!! It’s something I haven’t used since I was 19, and never in an abstraction. So many possibilities. The images can be painted orange and blue with an almost concrete like texture, almost like texture you’d see on a dirty sidewalk. I just don’t think I want to take it to that level of finish!

 

[PaintBoss]

Oh but it sounds sooooo cool. I think you should consider trying! There are ways to get that dirty concrete effect.
But I also like the idea of you expanding on your graphite. I think it would be beautiful. Do you have pencils of different softness and hardness? You can get a little pack of them pretty reasonable. And some blenders. Get a kneaded eraser. And sometimes using white erasers that are in different shapes can give you different shapes on the paper. It’s not just the effects with graphite that you put down on a piece of paper. It’s also how you remove it. You could even use some charcoal. I would recommend a soft, soft, soft charcoal like vine charcoal. It is very light when you blend it opposed to the hard black. But charcoal could do a lot of the heavy lifting in broad areas for a background. And you can erase on that just the same as the graphite.
Just some thoughts.

 

[john]

That's a powerful little heart, Dave! I like it for its simplicity too; sometimes that's the best way to get a message across. The dark border really sets if off visually.

Well, this one was an experiment, as always, and it was a challenge for me to steer it toward a theme while keeping it abstract. I usually start with no particular idea in mind and see what appears. So this is a real challenge for me. I started another one - twice- and am learning that you must have some direction in mind or else you'll just wander aimlessly, which is not necessarily a bad thing but it does eat up a lot of paint! This one is acrylic paint applied to watercolor paper with a roller/brayer with marker pen for lines. I was inspired by Night and Texture and noticed that it also has a bit of an Urban feel to me. 7x9

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i like this. You did a good job keeping direction but adding variety. The color texture is great.

 

[Donna T]

Thank you John. I wish I could do more complex compositions like you do but every time I try they veer off into a chaotic mess. It’s like putting too many seasonings into a soup.

 

[Artyczar]

Christine! I'm so sorry about your horrible fall. Your description of it was probably not nearly as bad as it probably was. It reminded me of a similar fall my mom took many years ago, but I was not there to help her, so a neighbor called the ambulance. I hope you can get some much-needed downtime, rest, and heal exactly as you need to. Take as much pain medicine as you need to get through this. Let me know if you need any help in the meantime.

 

[Artyczar]

Well, off to a rocky start here. I haven't been making abstract work in a while now, at least not 100%. There's always an abstract element in my work, but I haven't made a pure abstract in a long time.

I always start with drawing. I address compositions as simply as I can, and I've been doing this a couple of days now between all the other crap I have to do lately. It kind of works for me because I have no space to do anything else right now because my studio is in shambles. Hannah and I have been decluttering/downsizing (as best we can, anyway), so I have tons of open boxes everywhere.

It's been hard to settle on any drawings that are satisfying for me. Yesterday was easier than the day before. Those were all trash. I was focused on the "line" and wasn't thinking about picking up my pencil, making curvatures, or exploring anything complex in any way.

Yesterday, this got slightly easier. I continued to stay basic, but I watched where I went. I don't think I was present the day before. Out of twenty-five from yesterday, I honed it down to two.

I might be leaning toward the second one. And either one I pick, it can change a bit in the process of making it an oil painting. I'll probably be putting it on a birch panel and use some collage (paper and fabric?), which will take a while, depending on what size I decide. I'm thinking about that now.

So, that's where I'm at today.

 

[Donna T]

Nice drawings, Arty; like you I think the second one has the most possibilities. Thanks for describing your process and how important lines are to it. It seems that most of the artists I’ve looked at start with random scribbles so your more thoughtful drawing process is a good option to have. It amazes me how you can make these interesting compositions with no definable things in them!

 

[PaintBoss]

Thanks so much Arty. Hopefully I can always be around to at least comment on our contributors. I appreciate your offer to help, very kind of you. I didn’t get much sleep. I wasn’t in terrible pain. I’m just having problems. But today even on pain medicine I find I really can’t walk. The hip seems weird and it does hurt but it also feels like it’s dangling.
I had to smile in recognition how you described doing a lot of work and not really feeling connected to it later and then deciding most of it wasn’t good.. We are very hard on ourselves and I commiserated when you said this is trash! I just feel the frustration and I know that so well. But also, I think we are very hard on ourselves. I think there’s a reason for that. I think one thing that sets artist apart from beginners say, is that we are more exacting. Not anything will do. But we have to brainstorm a bit to see what we like, to find little nuggets we want to start working with.
I like the two that you have presented today. Yesterday was a very productive day actually. I think it’s necessary sometimes for us to go through that step. I’m looking forward to where this leads, especially with your medium being collage!

 

[PaintBoss]

Nice drawings, Arty; like you I think the second one has the most possibilities. Thanks for describing your process and how important lines are to it. It seems that most of the artists I’ve looked at start with random scribbles so your more thoughtful drawing process is a good option to have. It amazes me how you can make these interesting compositions with no definable things in them!

I think one way is you start with something. A mark or two and then decide what would be interesting in the next mark you make and so on and so on. And what colour to pick. You let it grow organically. It’s wonderfully freeing.

 

[PaintBoss]

Well despite my complaints , i do get determined. Lol I dug out some tinted pastel paper and charcoals and pastels, a large drawing board, mediums i so rarely use. Don’t tell my husband, but while he was asleep, I went to the basement and found what I was looking for. I’ve only been in the basement three times since I’ve lived in this house which has been over a year now. Stairs are usually a big problem. I had some ideas in mind and I just felt like I couldn’t wait. Today I decided just to have some fun. This is pretty large. I’m going to guess that the paper is probably 20 x 24“.
In my mind, I had urban and lines, and I was thinking of the frenetic speed so many of us are caught up in, in the rat race. A little bit like looking down onto the expressways from those big city cameras and you see all the interchanges and all the cars’ lights at night, but the slow camera speed allows you to see light trails. I just kept building up, taking things away. I wasn’t intending on all the colours but the bright lights, big city not only means concrete and industrial and the dirty underbelly, but variety and opportunity too. Had fun with my lines and color. Going to stare at it now and see what I want to change in the next few days. I had something to listen to on YouTube while doing it, but as I got more engrossed, my videos just started making suggestions and playing random stuff. I did this piece while listening to… The Osmonds! Lovely people, but I did this having to hear Puppy Love and Paper Roses! Not quite the vibe. Lol I’m not sure why it came up in my suggestions, but I was too involved to go wash my hands before touching my phone and changing the video. Crazy Horses was a little better.

 

[Donna T]

Oh my gosh Christine, you took stairs to the basement so soon after the fall?! I’m trying not to imagine how this story could have ended! Your painting is amazing! I love the streaks of colors - the light trails. It looks like you did some horizontal lines first and I like how they add some structure and stability. Very lively piece!

 

[PaintBoss]

Thank you. Yes I did. Well you are not wrong dear lady. Reckless for sure. But I’m a farm girl and I’m resourceful. I guess I’m also lucky because it wasn’t the smartest thing to do. Sometimes I just really want to do something. I am your enthusiastic hostess but this time, not the most sensible apparently! Lol
I got up this morning and I really couldn’t walk but then it got better. And I sat on a bench and did this in my room. It was a lot. But psychologically I feel great! Being housebound and sick so much of the time it’s nice to have something else to focus on. I am just now telling my husband this and he’s actually quite proud of me. He agrees he would’ve had a cow if he had seen me coming upstairs with all that stuff, but says it’s that spirit a person needs. So I am a fool but a happy one.
I have to say I really liked how fast and immediate the pastel/ charcoal is and I may do more of it. I was just trying to get the cobwebs out. Play with your mediums everyone!

 

[Hermes2020]

Well, that was reckless, but I understand completely that you were driven to create this work. The risk paid off handsomely! The name of Morris Louis popped into my head the moment I saw those vertical lines. I hope you don't mind that association, but my mind cannot stop making connections.