JANUARY CHALLENGE - ABSTRACTION

Our January Challenge "Abstraction" entries from Cindy, Donna, Carmen, Carol, Jean, Kathy, Mary, Denette and Fay are below. Such a variety of expression...read all about it! (Click on any image to enlarge it.)

ABSTRACTION is really a complicated art form...practically you have to know how to draw and compose a realistic piece before you can successfully de-construct it into an abstract form.  The years of hearing folks declare "my five year old could paint that" lead me to believe it was a matter of slinging paint Jackson Pollack-style.  Not so fast....!  I've never taken the time to study the process carefully but now and then I "dabble" in abstraction as a way to learn more about what does NOT work.  Lately I have been playing with abstraction in tones of white.  Here's a small sampling of what I had come up with:

Cindy Michaud

contact me at: art@cindymichaud.com

eh? not bad...but then again....I'll keep trying!  I do think this is a more difficult genre than most folks think.

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Abstract Art is much harder than it looks and appeals to different people for different reasons.  I really love abstraction for it's use of color.  Sometimes as an artist and as an art lover I just want to see color.  Color can be very powerful, color evokes lots of emotion, lots of memories so it can represent anything to the person looking at it. 
This painting is an abstract interpretation of a marsh scene using just color.  The real joy of abstract is it can be one thing to the artist and quite another to the onlooker. 

The Marsh

 Donna Vines

https://donnavinesart.etsy.com

https://donnavinesart.blogspot.com

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Greenleaf, 4"x4.5 "

This is my favorite abstract I've ever done. It is poured acrylic on wood, and it's tiny and shiny.

Carmen Beecher

https://www.carmensart.etsy.com

https://carmenbeecher.blogspot.com/

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Point of View
sold
Oil on Panel

I like the color, composition, and texture in this piece.

Carol Schiff
www.CarolSchiffStudio.etsy.com
www.CarolSchiffStudio.blogspot.com

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The challenge of abstraction got me thinking about all of the ways we are pulled by electronic media. I have a love/no love relationship with digital media. For example, I love the Adobe programs and admire that they were developed by human beings and creative thinkers. Illustrator is my favorite. I created the artwork above using it. This was an exercise in repetition, pattern and rhythm. Also, it represents how you can get overwhelmed by all the parts if you open the box. Enjoy!

 Jean Thomas

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I enjoy an occasional abstraction! Some people say all my designs are abstract since I don't ever paint anything in a realistic manner. But, to me, an abstract has no easily identifiable representation and is open to anyone's interpretation. The above was created in Illustrator and then taken into Photoshop. I call it "Signals from Another Planet" but you might see something else.

Kathy Garvey

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Several years ago I took a watercolor workshop with John Salminen. I thought it would include his wonderful street scenes, but it was all about abstract. It was fascinating and involved. Later I played with simplifying his methods, but always remembering his advice. This is a fairly recent painting I call "Warm Abstract."

Mary Warnick

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This is as close as I get to abstraction! Red by Denette Schweikert

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I am so impressed by the creativity of my colleagues in this challenge that I hesitate to post my own. In the collage below, I am following up on my November value study of the Appalachian Mountains.  As you can see, this one uses geometric shapes to represent the mountains. You will have to use your imagination to make these mountains recede into the distance. The colors are not just right, but the papers were at the ready. In any case, it is fun seeing how my sketch translates into triangles, etc. 

Fay Picardi