Abstract Art

Is Creativity Helped By Defective Tools?

I made this new drawing with a black Zig calligraphy paint pen.  Perhaps because it had been sitting around for months, I had trouble getting the ink to flow.  Then when it did, too much came out.  But these flaws in the operation of the pen actually helped make this drawing possible.  I was able to get a lot of variety in the lines--some thin and sketchy, others thick and intense. 

Sometimes a tool's restrictions or faults help the creative process by setting limits or guidelines under which we have to work.  It takes creativity to make the most of what we've got, or to turn accidents into art.

Art Trail Preview: Drawing

The last weekend of the Art Trail open studio weekends begins tomorrow, October 16, continuing through Sunday, from 11 to 5.  I've been featuring a number of the artists in this blog, and today I want to talk about a media which is often overlooked:  drawing. 

I don't know of any artist who did not begin their art life with some kind of drawing, and many of us continue to do it today.  Some artists draw as a preparation for or beginning to the painting process.  Others still produce drawings as a "finished product." 

I've been drawing more myself over the past few years, even though the market for drawings seems much smaller than the one for paintings, prints, photography or sculpture.  People may hang a painting, print or photograph to decorate their homes.  They hang a drawing because they truly appreciate it. 

Two of the art trail artists with impressive portfolios of drawings are Doug Baird and Margaret Reed.  Doug Baird says he seeks "to show the interior life of what we see and dream every day."

   APPLE TREE 3, digital pad drawing by Doug Baird.

See Doug's extensive portfolio of drawings on his art website at DougBairdArt.com.

Margaret Reed's charcoal drawings are based on mythology.  She says that "dark and whimsical, they may give you pause, but also a smile."

   AURORA, charcoal, 8" x 10" by Margaret Reed.

Margaret also has an art website at Margaret-Reed.com. 

 

 

 

Art Trail Drawings

When my studio was open to the public during Art Trail weekends in October, I did some drawing in between talking to visitors:

   Art Trail Drawing #1

   Art Trail Drawing #2

Art Trail Drawing #3

  Art Trail Drawing #4

I find it relaxes me to draw while people are looking around the studio, and that way I'm not hovering over them.  Yet I'm in the middle of things and can easily stop to talk when necessary.  The second open-studio weekend was pretty busy, so I didn't get that much time to draw.  Which is fine by me.

New Abstract Paintings & Drawings on Website

Over the last week or two, I updated my website, adding my most recent group of paintings as well as 78 selected drawings from my years' worth of making a drawing a day.  The paintings can be found at New Abstract Paintings Gallery.

Here are some of the drawings I selected to put in my Abstract Drawings Gallery: 

   Abstract Pen Drawing 1

  Abstract Pen Drawing 3

  Abstract Pen Drawing 38

  Abstract Pen Drawing 27

 

A Year of Making Art, Day 366: The Final Day

April 20, 2008  Day 366

I have completed my project:  I made a drawing a day for an entire year!

What have I learned from this year?  First, that I shouldn't necessarily jump full speed into every project I think of.  Second, that I do have enough fortitude to carry out a long-term commitment like this.  Third, it is better to write a blog when you have something to say rather than filling space every day just to do it.

As a bonus, I now have 373 new drawings.  While many are so-so, I think there are a good number that I can be proud of.  Some day I might even add them to my website (another huge project).

Today's drawing is celebratory:

  Drawing #373  9" x 12"

I also painted today, finishing Canvas #41, though I may go back and change a color or two:

  Canvas #41  44" x 44"

I plan to keep writing this blog, but two or three times a week instead of every day.  Thanks to those of you who stayed with me through this year and gave me encouragement along the way!

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 365: One More Day

April 19, 2008  Day 365

Last night my sister Laura and her husband, Jim, arrived in Ithaca permanently.  A moving van loaded everything from their house in Kansas City last week and will deliver it this Monday.  I still can't believe I'm lucky enough to get my sister to move to the town I live in.  With families spread all over the continent and further these days, those of us who can live near each other are very fortunate.

This morning I finished Canvas #42 by filling in all the lines I'd drawn yesterday.  I may still decide to change one or two of the colors, but I am basically pleased with it:

  Canvas #42  40" x 40"

After that, I made my drawing in browns and tans.  I finished with a black brush pen, and a few strokes of yellow.

  Drawing #372  9" x 12"

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 364: Two More Days

April 18, 2008  Day 364

This morning I got up at 6:30 a.m. because Blixy was coming at 7:00 to drop off Mike and Rachel.  They have no school this week.

After breakfast, Rachel and I helped Mike put up the badminton net, and then we played for an hour.  I was wiped out then and suggested a table game next.  We did, and then moved on to ping-pong.  Then another table game, and Dance Dance Revolution.  After lunch we visited the Museum of the Earth, which did not have their air-conditioning on.  It is in the 80s today, and the museum was so stuffy that we didn't stay long.

After having an iced-chocolate drink, Mike and Rachel played computer games while I got my work done.  Today's drawing was an experiment, where I first made all the short pen strokes in reds and oranges, and then began to shape it.

  Drawing #371  9" x 12"

After that, Blixy arrived and we played some more badminton before dinner.

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 363: Three More Days

April 17, 2008  Day 363

I have no idea why I woke up in a bad mod this morning, but a sense of foreboding and self-pity has tainted everything I've done.  Instead of having compassion and patience with Adrian's foibles, I reacted as if he were weaving a noose around my neck.

So what if there were spots of dried red cherries all over the kitchen floor when we got up this morning?  Cleaning it up only took ten minutes.

At least I weaseled my way out of going to the doctor's office with Adrian this morning, and it only cost me a bucket of guilt.  "You should have gone with me," he said when he got back.  "I forgot everything."

Adrian always gets the brunt of my bad moods.  Who else will put up with them?

I worked on two canvases this morning, continuing my "culmination" series in blues:

  Canvas #41  44" x 44"

  Canvas #42  40" x 40"

In my drawing, I began with browns, adding black and tan.  I started with calligaphy pens and added lines with a fine point black pen for texture. 

  Drawing #370  9" x 12"

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 362: Four More Days

This morning I finished the top and bottom of Canvas #39 and spent the rest of the time on Canvas #40.  This is the first time I tried to paint a "culmination" series painting in blues instead of red, orange and yellow.  I mixed some shades of light blue, brilliant blue, and cobalt blue to fill in the lines I had drawn:

  Canvas #40  30" x 30"

Then I did a simple black-and-white sketch for the day's drawing:

  Drawing #369  9" x 12"

Now I've got to do the grocery shopping because Adrian is still wearing a boot cast and limping around.

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)

A Year of Making Art, Day 361: Five More Days to Go

April 15, 2008  Day 361

Since this is a leap year, I have five more days to go in order to finish my "year of making art."  It is great to know I will make it, because too many times in my life, I did not stick things through to the finish.  I always get restless and want to move on, perhaps as part of my bipolar disorder.

Today I finished painting Canvas #39 and did some work on Canvas #40:

  Canvas #39  30" x 30"

In my drawing, I made a frivolous, spring-like floral:

  Drawing #368  9" x 12"

It is definitely spring today.  The temperatures are only in the fifties, but daffodils and crocuses are out, all our neighbors are gardening like mad, and birdsong at dawn is a cacophony.

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)