The Challenge for May: Abstract

Our challenge for this month is to do an abstract work of art.

                                                           ********
Donna Vines

I have always enjoyed looking at Abstract art but painting it is not easy.  It has to evoke an emotion, a feeling, something beyond a recognizable thing.  The more I thought about how to approach this the more I realized it is all in the colors to me.  I looked at several artists then looked through my photos to find a mood.  I finally chose a fall mountain scene because it looked so vibrant, alive and hopeful.

Vermont in the Fall
9x12 oil

Donnavinesart.Etsy.com


***************

Jean Thomas

This is an abstract landscape that I made up from a sketch. My purpose here was to experiment with watercolor and try to get a wide range of value. The original is about 7" x 9".

************************

* * * * *

Abstract was a totally new idea in the art world when painters attempted to render a piece with no recognizable subject matter. The goal was to provoke a certain feeling and most art enthusiasts just didn't get it. "Radical, my kid could do it, just paint thrown on" were some of the oft heard reactions.  While times have changed I'm one who will tell you that good abstract art is much harder than painting something we can all identify.  Try painting an emotion (and no fair using flowers or a sunshine.)  I can't really get there but it is fun trying.  My piece definitely has discernible objects in it altho my husband and I see totally different things.  Maybe I got closer than I thought!

14 x 11, acrylic
Cindy Michaud
art@cindymichaud.com

* * * * *

"Love in the Time of Coronavirus"
6x8, acrylic

I am not an abstract artist, so I employed a little Jackson Pollock to this and dropped the paint on the board from about four feet. Then I enhanced the round blobs to resemble COVID-19. It was fun.

Carmen Beecher

carmenbeecher.comcarmensart.etsy.com

* * * * *

Mary Warnick's Abstract

"Ocean Motion"

I have admired the work of John Salmonen for many years, especially his beautiful cityscapes.  Several years ago he gave a workshop in Melbourne and I signed up.  It turned out to be an abstract workshop.  It was very intensive and complicated.  I think he was trying to incorporate a few techniques into the process, including line drawing and the grid method of transferring an image.  Over time I tried simplifying, but stuck to his advise "if it starts looking like something, get rid of it before you fall in love with it".   This little watercolor is a very simplified version.

* * * * *

Kathy's response to the challenge:

I love to doodle and when I have nothing in mind to draw, that's what I do. One of my favorite methods is to randomly draw two lines across a page or canvas and then fill them in . Below is my progress from start to finish on canvas. Then I took it into Photoshop to finalize it. Click on any image to expand it.

Moment of Impact
8x10 Acrylic to Photoshop
Kathy Garvey

*****

Hope is a Thing ...
Mixed Media Collage
by Fay Picardi

**********

One Percent
Denette Schweikert

This "painting" is the left side of the I am very beginning of a large 36" X 46" picture.  I am not very good at abstracts.  

30 Faces in 30 Days: Day 2

For me, the hardest thing to draw is a beautiful woman. This one has no lines, no scars, no wrinkles (unlike the man in Day 1). The only thing that's flawed with her is that goofy hairdo.

Carmen

30 Faces in 30 Days: Day 1

I saw a challenge online for drawing 30 faces in 30 days, and I thought that was a darn fine idea. I didn't join their challenge, just doing it on my own, and this is Face Number 1. This is really good practice.

Carmen

Journaling the Quarantine

Since I have been remiss in my journaling lately, I decided to catch up. There's not much to say since we have self-quarantined since March. Click on the picture to see it better.

I did finally make some successful masks, and since we have never had this much time to work in the yard, it's looking really good now.

Carmen

HOORAY!

by Denette Schweikert

36" X 48"

This painting is of a picture I took at beautiful Costa Rica.

See more of my work here

This large painting has been sitting on my easel in TWO YEARS!  I have made a lot  paintings since this time, but just this picture has sat there collecting dust.  It is wonderful having it completed.  And I am happy with it.

Throwback Collages

I have decided to do some collaging again.  I  have been away from it too long.  I looked at some of the older pieces I have done and a few of the most interesting were for a show we did at the King Center a few years ago called "Black and White and Red All Over",   It was great fun and interesting how everyone's thought process was so different.

Long Gone
11x14 Mixed Media

 This reminds me of all the things from the past that were so important and so vital but now are just abandoned and the people that might have used them.



My Word
18x24 Mixed Media

The written word what would our lives be without it.

Bell Buoy on a Foggy Night
8x24 Mixed Media

For some reason all I can think about when I see this is a foggy night on an imaginary red sea, full of strange creatures from another dimension.

Blob Fun

Donna Vines
After many, many weeks of self isolation and many hours of paint guilt I have finally decided,  for me, that  painting my great masterpiece or perfecting my oils technique was just not going to happen.  So, when I got tired of feeling bad about it I thought I would just have some fun.

I started watching new videos of artists and craftspeople that were doing things I had only heard about or had a different medium.  There are so many fun, free things out there to explore, it is amazing.

One technique to loosen up and get you in the mood I really liked and have done several times.  All you do is squirt a blob of acrylic paint (not too dark) on a piece of paper and spread it around with a credit card or big brush.  Let it dry, grab a pen and follow the contours or your imagination and turn it into something.  So, even if you can't seem to get creative or focus, you have done something that made you smile and feel artsy again.

This is the first one I did.

The next morning I tried two colors and saw this fish.

Then I tried the next one and saw this Lantern Fish.  Don't ask how or why but there he was. 

Donnavinesart.etsy.com