exercises in abstract art

It has been several days since my last post, this is because of two factors. The first is that I have just loaded IE8 as my browser, it appears to have a problem with Blogger and I ( and many others) keep getting error messages when trying to load blogs. It is really frustrating and all that the techs can say is "leave it with us". this is one reason why I have been making fewer posts recently.

The second reason why this week I am so late is that I have been away for a midweek break. I did manage to do a few exercises in a new book which I have just bought, called "Learn to Paint abstracts" by Laura Reiter. A simple little book and I was amused to find that she discusses the principles of composition and how to use these to effect in painting an abstract. I have always realised this but without proper training in art I don't always find it easy to remember to plan when to use these. But starting from the bottom, I decided to simply follow some of her examples and create some simple, small paintings to get into the abstract frame (no pun intended) of mind. I actually did about 13 I think over the two nights so you can see how simple and small they were.



diagonal elements imply movement



harmonious colours imply tranquility



repetition guides the eye of the viewer



contrasting colours create an exciting image



interweaving shapes creates unity



a grid format



gradation of tone or colour also guides the eye of the viewer



horizontal strata implies a landscape and/or creates stability in the painting



another version of a grid format



a less geometrical interlocking pattern



small coloured shapes catch the eye



more interlocking shapes with repetition



using text to break up an image by extending lines.



I am not claiming any great artistic merit in these sketches but they do offer a starting point(s). When I tried to get my fellow art group members interested in painting abstracts, one of their main concerns was, " where do I start?" Another was, "what colours do I use?" These simple exercises do at least help to answer some of those concerns. Like me most of the members have had little formal training in ART, and have learned to paint what they see. Even trying to get them to "loosen up" is difficult so I never pushed them too much. I did give them a model for starting which included much of the advice from Ms Reiter, and I will perhaps include that in a future post.



I have used it myself since but of course formulaic methodologies tend to produce fairly staid results. However , I have a kind of hankering to be able to paint good, exciting abstracts so I will persevere with this thro' the near future and see where it takes me

I just gotta brag about this.

A little while ago I was approached by The Morning News, an on-line newspaper about using one of my photos on Flickr to illustrate an article. Of course I said yes............... It wasn't an art mag or even in an article about art BUT it was an offer to use the photo ( an ATC called Matrimony, I think my luck's in) but it was my first published work so how could I refuse.

I personally think it may have been the implied humour rather than artistic merit but who cares. It is my first official recognition.

See the article at The Morning News archives section.

Just a quickie this week still tied up with MIL's affairs (financial!) and down with a rotten cold, so no time to play with art/craft.

three new watercolour aceo / atc 's

Crafting has been a little slow of late due to family issues but I am still going to my art group every week and doing a little painting. In fact this week I did three little paintings (LOL). Hope you like them. they are all watercolour, my favourite medium and definitely the best for such small works of art.

This is not my usual subject although I would like to think my style is still apparent. I called this one, The North Wind Doth Blow. I have to confess this is copied (shock, horror) from an old issue of Leisure Painter magazine. It was done simply to practice the simplistic, impressionistic way of painting the figure in a stormy setting. In fact, I used the original as a reference and it is such a simple painting that it was difficult to put my own interpretation upon it. I would not normally condone direct copying but it was done for all the best reasons. The only problem is that I cannot give you the name of the original painter.

This painting was called, Poppies. Took me a long time to think of that title, LOL. The lighter marks in the foreground have been made with a cocktail stick before the paint was fully dry, I think this helps to bring the foreground towards the viewer and add a little depth to the painting.

The last of the three I called, Clouds. It could have been Trees or something similar but I made my mind up. Unfortunately, this painting has been scanned (in fact all three have been imaged in this manner) and the clouds are not seen properly. Should I have used my digital camera (see my previous post)? Well yes, but These were the paintings which raised the question posed in that posting and I haven't managed to take a decent photograph yet.

scanning versus photography of watercolours

A friend asked me what is the difference between scanning and photographing watercolours when I said I usually photographed my paintings. I do not know exactly what the technical answer should be, but here are a couple of examples of why I do just that.


If I scan the paintings, I often find that the scan does not adequately represent the colour variation in some of the washes, especially in the skies or high toned areas. I do not fully understand why this should be so but have assumed that it is something to do with the ability of the scanner to recognise as many colours / tones. Don't quote me however! If you have a better explanation I would love to hear it.

The above images have been scanned at full size (3.5 inch wide which equates to about 1200 pixels or thereabouts), and then reduced in size to 350pixels wide for inclusion in this post. The same two images photographed are shown below:-

I rest my case. The second set of images is far better, and more representative of the original watercolour. The paintings are photographed at 96 dpi to fill about 2/3 of the image finder using the macro setting on my run of the mill digital camera. These are cropped to the edges of the paintings which gives quite a large image compared to the scans. About 3-400 Kb compared to 150-200 Kb. I then reduce the size of the images to 350 pixels wide for inclusion in this post.

After explaining this it has struck me that the original photo image is quite large compared to the original scan image, could this be the reason why........? I will try to find some time to experiment with scanning at different sizes and see if I can improve upon the images. If I can it will be so much easier. Even tho I use a tripod to photograph paintings, I still have issues with focus, mmmm.... must see what I can do. Thanks for the question Nancy.

I will report back if I have anything significant to discuss.

a bevy of new atc's

The other day I felt at a loose end ( LOL) and decided to get down to a little crafting. The only problem was that my craft area was not available - don't ask !!! But I did have a growing stash of images and odds and ends including scraps of backing papers and my most often used tools handy ( scissors and glues). So I decided to use up some of this ever increasing pile of goodies. My thanks to all my swapping friends who may have contributed to this. I am very naughty not recording contributors but I tend to save them in a logically useful way and forget where they came from. Recent goodies have been sent from Renee, Constanza, Janet and Nancy amongst others, if I have forgotten to credit you please accept my apologies.

I guess that I am quite conservative in my use of materials and often print out downloaded images for specific challenges so I tend to put this wonderful stuff to one side thinking I will use that tomorrow - well tomorrow came yesterday!

Here is the result of going thru' that evenings crafting:-

The title of each atc is given by the text on that card. At the moment all of these are available to swap via my Flickr photostream. Or contact me via e-mail or a comment on this post.

Well there you have it. Four cards I feel quite happy with from from an evenings work. Something I always wonder about collage is. is it the images or is the way that they are put together and used. For example the last card..... this image of the little girl would look good in almost any situation. Add a background and a small item to complement the image, with a vaguely worded piece of text and you have an atc. BUT is it my skill in choosing and positioning the items or is it down to that beguiling image? Does it matter? I would love to hear your thoughts on this question in general, not necessarily on this card.

more atc's using coloured baby wipes

A recent challenge to make atc's from baby wipes coloured with watercolour in the manner of Bernie Berlin, had left me with several extra sheets of background paper which I decided to put to use. I was a little constrained because of a situation at home but found enough inspiration ( and scraps) to make the following two cards.

"Are you my mother?" and "I am very sweet" are both quite simple collages. The coloured baby wipe as a background, a main image and another to complement (the ribbon and the hand) and finally the text. I often wonder if I should put a lot more layers, images and other bits and pieces on my collages. I see many like that and often find them excellent, it worries me that mine are too simplistic. They are however in a similar style to many of my paintings - which I guess is me. Also, I was very pleased recently to be paid a compliment by Cathy about my collages where they were described as "clean and masculine". So perhaps I will carry on as I have been doing, and leave the decoration to the ladies.

two more watercolour aceo's

Well, came back from my art group with another couple of watercolour paintings this week. I have been posting one or two sketches using this medium of late and felt I needed to do something a little more specific. But as I am a little on the impatient side and wanted to complete a painting, it had to be aceo size (2.5X3.5 inches). In the event, I actually completed two. Still more sketchy than anything, they are both landscapes showing a sunset over distant hills with trees in the foreground to add a little detail. I was quite pleased with the foreground here, nice and loose.

Haven't yet titled them which is unusual for me but I have done a few sunsets recently and have run out of ideas. In fact as an afterthought they could well end up as, " sunset over distant hills 1 and 2". Well it is at least they are working titles.

One other thing I have been upto recently was to make another art doll (or button fairy)for a swap by Mamma on Flickr. My own take on this of course had to be different again ( see African art doll) and I ended up making an North American Indian art doll.I was actually too late for the swap as I was working towards the end of the week when it was the end of the month ( a friday)so I am stuck with it. Will have to hang it up with one or two others in my studio ( well loft space to my friends)LOL.



Well that brings me up to date on my art work, will have to go and start creating some more art - see you.