Abstract Art

New Video Demonstrates the Painting Process

I just made a new video demonstrating how I paint.  In it I show how I use a brush, a palette knife, and lines drawn with acrylic paint.  I'm adding it to both my blogs, because seeing something being done presents a different and often a clearer view than reading about how it is done.  

Read My New Art Blog

I have a new art blog post today about revising a painting with a looser interpretation.  You may read it on my art website.

New Art on My Website

Please note that I will be moving my art commentary to my website blog, where you can sign up to be notified when new posts come out.  At the top right of the blog there is a space to subscribe by entering your email addess.

 

I just put six new paintings on my art website. I finished them a couple of weeks ago, but it always takes a while before I get around to scanning or photogaphing them, sizing them in photoshop, and finally using Dreamweaver to insert them into my web pages. 

I put every new painting in three places on my website: (1) in my gallery of new paintings, (2) in a catalog of square, horizontal, or vertical paintings, and (3) in my listing of all unsold original paintings.  I try to make it as easy as possible for people to find what they are looking for. 

Here are two of the new paintings:

  Modern Art 35, 24" x 24" acrylic on canvas.

  Modern Art 39, 24" x 24" acrylic on canvas.

 

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Lately I've had a lot of trouble deciding if a new painting is finished or not.  In fact, I'm looking at ones I thought were finished and repainting them.  I just have a general disatisfaction with what I'm doing in the studio, though I keep painting.  From experience, I've found that continuing to work is the best antidote to this kind of disatisfaction. 

Here's the painting before I started working on it today:

  Painting #199, 24" x 24" acrylic on canvas.

I began today by taking a palette knife and applying large swaths of titanium white. Then I brushed over most of the underlying image with a pale green and cobalt teal. 

Next I drew lines with prussian blue and brushed over them.  In the final step, I drew lines in mars black, creating a grid-like structure over the whole canvas, and then drawing several circles.

Tomorrow I'll take another look.

  Painting #199, 24" x 24" acrylic on canvas.

 

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The Adventures of Hanging Art

I have no idea why I scheduled three exhibits this summer--two of them the same month, except that summer is a good time to have an art show in Ithaca. We get lots of tourists, who are attracted by our lakes and gorges as well as the wine trails. 

The first challenge in hanging a show is deciding where each piece will go.  Luckily, I had chosen sizes and colors that mostly worked in the space.  I always bring extra, but there were only two that we couldn't find a place for this time.

We had to wait until the previous artist took down her work, and I had misunderstood the time we would meet.  But by getting there an hour early, we got all my paintings inside the building before the heavy rains descended. 

We were supposed to hang the paintings from hooks with wire, but it would have been tough to do that with my larger paintings.  Fortunately, we were given permission to put hangar nails in the walls.  My daughter volunteered to stand on a stepstool to do the measuring and nail placement. 

The largest space at the Americana Winery and Cafe was the tasting room--but it was not that well lit on the cloudy day we were having.  Fortunately, my 48" x 48" colorful abstract paintings don't depend on a lot of light to stand out.  The snapshots I took of the exhibit did not come out great because of glare from a window, but this will give you an idea of the space.

 

The second room we hung the art was the cafe, which had a lot more light.  All the spaces there were small, but I brought along enough 16" x 20" and 20" x 20" paintings to fit them. 

The exhibit will be up for the month of July and ended up including sixteen paintings. 

 

 

 

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Hanging Americana Winery & Cafe Exhibit Today

I'll be hanging an exhibit of new as well as older paintings at the Americana Winery and Cafe today.  The cafe has smaller spaces for hanging, so I'll be showing paintings that are 16" x 20" and 20" x 20" in that space.  Here are a couple:

  Modern Art Fifteen, 16" x 20" acrylic on canvas.

  Modern Art Thirty-Seven, 20" x 20" acrylic on canvas.

I'm also hanging some much larger pieces in the winery tasting room, where the ceilings are high and there is plenty of wall space.  Several of these paintings have deep reds, which look better in real life than they show in a photograph:

  The Knife Cuts, The Petal Falls, 48" x 48" acrylic on canvas.

  Cliff Dwelling Two, 48" x 48" acrylic on canvas.

My daughter will be helping with the hanging, so it should go smoothly.  I'm bringing my tool box, measuring tape, and lots of extras that might be needed, just in case.

Next time I'll post photos of the exhibit hanging.

 

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Preparing for an Exhibition

I'll be exhibiting my abstract paintings at the Americana Vinyard, Winery and Cafe in July, which means I have to get organized for it now.  The tasting room has high ceilings and enough wall space for some large canvases, so I'll need to pick ones that work well together.

In the cafe, I'll need very small paintings, so I'm glad I've been working on that size lately.  I could bring some of my drawings if they were framed, but they're not. 

Every now and then I think I'd like to have a show of my drawings, but the knowledge that I'd need to get them framed keeps me from following through.  Some day.

  Modern Drawing Eleven, 12" x 9" acid free inks on archival paper.

I always bring more paintings than I will actually need--a much better plan than not bringing enough or having the wrong size or colors.  Sometimes you don't know which paintings will look good together until you hang them.

After I select the paintings, I have to prepare the labels, a price list, and find a bio of myself to put up.  I guess it's been a while since I've done this, because I feel very lazy about it.  Plus, hanging at a winery is a do-it-yourself endeavor, unlike a gallery where the gallery staff handles it. 

Now that I'm done writing about it, I'd better go and DO IT!

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Adding Nuance and Detail to a New Abstract Painting

I liked this bright, expressionist painting when I first made it, but after letting it sit for awhile, I decided it could use more nuance and detail.

  Abstract Painting #202, 24" x 24" acrylic on canvas.

I began with titanium white, brushing it on to highlight sections of the original composition.  I used the brush lightly, covering over some of the deeper colors underneath, but leaving some to show through. 

I continued to paint in this manner with pale colors:  parchment, a pale yellow, and pale orange.  Then I added the more intense cadmium red deep and cobalt green. 

At some point in the process, I drew lines with Prussian blue, feathering them with a brush.  I did everything with a light touch in order to let the texture of the under-painting show through. 

Now I'll let the canvas dry and see what I think in a few days.

  Abstract Painting #202, 24" x 24" acrylic on canvas.

 

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Revisioning an Older, Monochrome Painting

More Work on New Expressionist Painting

I let this expressionist painting sit for quite a while before I was ready to work on it again.  I liked what I had, but not enough to sign my name.  Here it is before today's work session:

  Abstract Painting #201, 24" x 24" acrylic on canvas.

I've been going into my studio lately with the attitude, "Just pick up a brush and start painting."  I had faith that the process would guide me in what to do next.  Of course, one has to pick the first color, and I chose white.  I am trying to use more white in my paintings--to let the light in.

I gradually moved into darker, more intense colors, beginning with parchment, then a pale light yellow, pale gray-green, and finally to my beloved Prussian blue.  It's odd how colors become favorites for a time.  I had never used Prussian blue until I discovered it some years ago, and now I can't live without it.

Soon, I decided to break up the surface of the paint with sketchy lines drawn in vivid red orange and lime.  I used a brush to merge them into the background. 

My final step was to draw lines in Prussian blue, feathering them with a brush.  Now I'll let this one sit until I decide if it's finished or not.

  Abstract Painting #201, 24" x 24" acrylic on canvas.

 

 

 

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More Work on Small Expressionist Painting

I began this smal expressionist painting a few weeks ago, but let it sit until I was ready to work on it again.  Here's what it looked like before I began:

  Abstract Painting #198, 24" x 24" acrylic on canvas.

I liked the loose, expressionist style, but felt it needed nore detail and definition.  I began by applying more of the titanium white, then a pale yellow.  Rather than the original pthalo blue I'd used, I brushed on some Prussian blue, which helped define the shapes and movement. 

I continued to work with these colors, adding some parchment to the mix.  Then I drew some sketchy lines in Parchment for texture.  As I worked, I contiually stood back to look with concentration, until I felt the composition, color, and texture came together. 

  Abstract Painting #198, 24" x 24" acrylic on canvas.

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When you put your art out there for the world to see, which we can all do now thanks to the internet, you get all kinds of reactions.  Those of us who have made art all our lives and exhibited publicly in gallery shows, have enough experience to let the negative reactions and comments slide off us for the most part. 

When you are painting abstract art, especially, you can expect some people to say, "My kid could do that," or to think we make abstract art because we don't know how to draw and paint realistically from life.  

When I wasn't selling my art, I painted for myself.  Once I began to sell it, I worried more about my "public."  And since I write about my art all the time, I was careful to keep my private life and opinions out of it.

But here I am, at the final sprint of life.  I feel I can paint and write what I want to now without the burden of censorship.  That doesn't mean I don't edit or try to write in the most engaging way possible.  I still care about the writing process and the painting process.

All of that is a long introduction to the work I'm doing now repainting some of my old canvases.  I'm letting my self go and having more fun in the studio. 

Today I continued work on Entropy Two, solidifying colors and shapes to make the composition stronger and clearer.  I worked slowly, stepping back often to see what I wanted to do next. 

  Entropy Two, 36" x 36" acrylic on canvas.

I like it now.  I'll see what I think tomorrow.

Re-envisioning My Life and Art

Most of my life, in spite of my bipolar ups and downs, I've felt indestructible--living as if there would always be time to revise and start over.  But when your partner dies, you come up to death in a close and personal way that helps you to understand just how short life is.

For me, lately, this has changed the way I look at my art.  I don't feel as protective of it, or of my reputation as an artist.  I feel freer to paint for my self.  I feel freer to abandon older paintings that don't speak to me any more. 

Painting has always provided a means of jumpstarting myself out of a depression.  Even when the depression itself doesn't lift, the fact of making art helps me to keep on keeping on. 

Today I took an older painting that had seen its day, and repainted it.  Here's the original:

  Entropy, 36" x 36" acrylic on canvas.

I began with white, covering over large areas of the canvas.  Then I blended in raw sienna, burnt sienna, and burnt umber, painting quickly and blending as I did.

Finally, I drew lines in black, feathering and blending them with a brush.  At this point, the original painting glows beneath the over-painting, lending color tones and texture. 

  Entropy Two, 36" x 36" acrylic on canvas.

 

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First Friday Gallery Night in Ithaca, NY

It was perfect weather for First Friday Gallery Night in Ithaca last week.  The daytime rain had given up, and temperatures were mild.  My friend Linda and I wandered from one gallery to the next, enjoying the work of many young artists we hadn't seen before.

Greg Tomezsko's striking oils had enough abstraction in them to excite me.  You'll find realistic portraits and impressionistic nature scenes in his portfolio as well.  His work was at the Community Center of Music and Arts, where he is currently a teacher. 

Michael Sampson was exhibiting abstract paintings with thick lush layers of paint at Contemporary Trends.  The photos on his website don't do justice to his visually engaging originals. 

Allison Shull was showing a number of colorful, abstract expressionist paintings at Contemporary Trends.  Her work was also available there in digital archival prints. 

Ithaca's co-op gallery, The State of the Art Gallery, had an exciting two-person show.  Rachel Gorman and Scout Dunbar were exhibiting works on paper that complemented each other well.  You can find more of Scout Dunbar's work at the Ink Shop in Ithaca. 

Rachel Gorman is a recent graduate of Alfred Unviersity's School of Art and Design.  She exhibited exquisite abstract works of folded paper. 

Helena Cooper, an artist I've written about before, was showing some of her fabulously energetic and colorful pieces at Contemporary Trends.  She also has work at Agava Restaurant and has exhibited widely in upstate New York as well as Brazil. 

  DEPTHS IN BLUE, 48" x 36" oil on canvas by Helena Cooper.

 

 

 

Shape, Color and Form in Abstract Painting

I've been reworking an older painting, and my first work session led to a loose composition of brighter colors.  My next work project was to solidify the shape, color and form in this painting. 

First I repainted the cadmium red light and cadmium red medium shapes, giving them a more solid feel.  Then I selected some of the lighter shades and repainted them in parchment to make them pop more from the background. 

I continued to strengthen shapes and colors, adding more pale lavender, more dark red, and more of the pale greenish-gray.  In between, I kept standing back to look at the canvas to see what it needed. 

At this point there was barely any of the original painting left in the background--just a touch here and there. 

My final step was to redraw some of the lines in Prussian blue in order to clearly delineate separations.

Now I'll let it sit for a while.

  Accentuate the Positive Two, 36" x 36" acrylic on canvas.

 

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Revisioning an Older, Monochrome Painting

I had liked this painting when I first completed it, but after looking at it again, I decided it needed a revision.  I began with one of my brightest colors, cadmium red light, filling in three shapes with a brush.  Then I filled in a few more with cadmium red medium.

Ah, it looked brighter already!  Then I kept at it, using a pale lavender, cadmium red deep, white, and a pale green-gray.  I worked loosely, allowing small sections of the original painting to show through. 

Then I drew sketchy lines in white for interest and highlights.  My final step was to draw lines in Prussian blue, outlining some of the shapes.  With a brush, I flattened those lines and blended then with the other colors.

Here's the original:

  Accentuate the Positive, 36" x 36" acrylic on canvas.

Here's the revision so far:

  Accentuate the Positive Two, 36" x 36" acrylic on canvas.

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