Saturday, March 02, 2019

Thoughts on Abstraction


Circles and Ladders
12" x 36"
oil on canvas

From time to time I wander into abstraction.  Never purposefully, more by accident.  A stroke here or there that is misplaced but looks interesting leads to other strokes placed more deliberately but without a concrete subject in mind, just colour against colour.

Abstraction is seen as easy and something anyone can do.  And there is a lot of bad abstract paintings out there just as there are in representational work.  Abstraction demands colour and value knowledge and a lot of patience.  It takes endless layers and decision making to create something that is pleasing to the eye. 

Cropped detail section

As this piece emerged, I considered why it emerged and what I was thinking as it developed and put some of those thoughts into words in a short video.