Posts Tagged ‘abstract expressionism’
My Abstract Art Class #4
Last week, the lesson in my Abstract Art class was about symbols. We thought of a bunch of symbols, some of which were heart, $, #, hand, star, @, !, yin yang, cross, +, =, fish, x o. An artist could make one or more paintings with each of these in mind.
Teacher then showed us photos which she had collected with some of these symbols in mind. Most of us used one of her photos as inspiration to make our own painting. This is the painting I made from one of her photos because my son was in a band for several years and that photo reminded me of him. I might even send it out to him as a gift!
Reworking “Meandering”
Today I had time to work on only one abstract painting. I chose the acrylic painting which has several bright colors in the background with a yellow line meandering throughout the painting.
The green splotch had an “arm” that reached into the pink which Teacher didn’t like. I was to paint over the green “arm” so that the remaining green splotch was more or less circular. In order to cover that green, I had to put on a white coat. Then I noticed the picture had 3 pink splotches and a red one in addition to the greens and blues, and I decided to change that pink splotch to orange. The problem was that the orange I chose was too similar in value to its neighbor, the red. Tomorrow I’ll try to find an orange that will go with both the red and the green. This will all become clear when I post the photo on Monday.
Making the Expressionism-Existentialism Connection
Being a fan of existential philosophy and literature, I’ve found myself drawn to expressionism art. Although the two words aren’t connected on Wikipedia (Nietzsche does popup in Expressionism), there are some among parallels between the views. Expressionism emphasizes the subjective perspective and the “living” aspect of life and emotional experience.
In the same vein, existential philosophy presents the world as a subjective place where we are capable of choosing our own path. According to Sartre, the definitive existential voice, this endless array of choices leads individuals to crippling existential fear. Expressionism is often characterized by emotional angst as well, such as the iconic piece The Scream by Edvard Munch.
Rain, again
It has been 2 weeks since I have painted outdoors with my friends. We did have a few other nice days that week, but we have had probably 10 days of rain in the last 2 weeks! Yesterday, the only sunny day in at least a week of rain, I just had to mow my grass and do yard work! It’s enough to make a plein air painter go stir crazy!
I did have time to do studio work – lots of that, not that I spent all that time in the studio, though. I still have some paintings to finish from my vacation in August, and one to finish from the Paint Out in Chincoteague, 2-3 weeks ago. I do paint the sides of the canvas, so that takes extra time to paint the top half and let it dry, then the bottom and let it dry. Sometimes I do the whole outside edge and let it dry flat on a cardboard for a few days. After that, it’s amazing how much time it takes to name and sign and wire it, give it a number, and attach a frame. I wouldn’t trade this life for any other, but I do hope the sun will come out again soon!
Picasso’s Many Faces
During a recent trip to the Hermitage Museum, I had an opportunity to view several pieces by Pablo Picasso on lease from another museum. Admittedly, I knew little about the legendary artist—and I still know next to nothing. And with my limited knowledge, I was expecting most of his work to be abstract oil painting, with discombobulated people and a random mishmash of shapes.
In fact, the Picasso gallery had an assortment of pieces made with differing mediums. Not only were they’re cubist abstract works, but there were sketches, still-lifes, and even some sculptures, many of which conveyed a political message. My favorite part of the exhibit was that several of the works were accompanies by earlier versions of the same piece which the artist had used to build the concept. This allowed you to see a painting come to life as new levels and dimensions were added to it.
Creating from a New Pool of Thought
Today I received another of Gwen Fox’s newsletters. She’s the artist from Taos, NM, who does realistic painting as well as abstract expressionism paintings.
She talked about how artists are taught to learn the rules of painting – meet the right people, buy the perfect brush, take workshops, enter shows…. After a year and a half of entering art shows and receiving rejections, she concluded that judges have their own preferences, and they may not happen to be yours. “It’s like flavors of ice cream… to some, chocolate caramel swirl is better than pistachio,” she states.
“Being creative and taking chances means that we goof at times…actually, a lot of the time. To me, being different gives me wings, allows space for my breath to flow… so continue to forget the rules. Mix muddy colors, exaggerate the design concept, twist the subject matter, dig down and create from a new pool of thought”……Gwen Fox
The Weeping Hemlock Tree
Yesterday, Thelma and I painted at the home of Beth, a retired teacher, who lives in a lovely home with a large yard. The yard is about 3 acres in size, full of trees and gardens and lawn.
One of the trees is a weeping hemlock, some of whose branches hang down to the ground. The area inside the weeping branches is about 15 feet in diameter and Beth has hung tea lights on the branches. The “ceiling” is about 5 ½ feet high – enough that children love going in and feeling like Alice in Wonderland after she went through the looking glass. Beth’s grandchildren love playing inside the tree where it is cool.
Thelma does expressionism art and last week painted from a photo taken from inside the tree. Yesterday, she painted the weeping hemlock from the outside. She, also, loves the tree!
On Not Being Able to Write
On days in which I do an oil painting, it’s easy to write a blog. On other days, not so much.
Take, for instance, Wednesday. I was scheduled for an appointment with the chiropractor for the last of a series of back corrections from having driven from Florida to Maryland a month or so ago. In the meantime, last Saturday I began the day with a large bucket of soap and bleach water and scrubbed my deck furniture and some of the mildew from winter that had collected on the back of the house. As a result, I had developed a stiff neck – for 4 days! The chiro fixed me up, but last night I got something in my eye that just about did me in!
This morning, I finally got the eye problem abated, after lots more eye drops! All that from someone who has been sick hardly a day in her life!
Expressionism
Expressionism was a cultural movement originating in Germany at the start of the 20th century. It is exhibited in many art forms, including: painting, literature, theater, dance, film, architecture and music. Its typical trait is to present the world from a subjective perspective, violently distorting it to transmit personal moods. In general, the term refers to art that expresses intense emotion rather than physical reality.
A few of the Expressionists were: Klee, Van Gogh, Munch, Kandinsky, Chagall, deKooning and Pollock. Influenced by the Fauves, Expressionists worked with arbitrary colors as well as jarring compositions to capture vivid emotions. Kandinski believed that with simple colors and shapes, the spectator could perceive the moods and feelings of the paintings. Therefore, he make the move to abstraction. ……from Wikipedia
Painting at Leslie’s
On Mondays, I have a standing arrangement with my friends that we will do landscape painting. However, the weather didn’t cooperate today so Leslie said she would set up a still life if we wanted to go to her house. It was a good thing that we did as the day turned out very humid and uncomfortable.
When I arrived, Leslie was gathering flowers and later set them in a vase on a cloth on a coffee table. We set up our easels and began in air conditioned comfort. Later, her husband even brought us lunch! Now, it doesn’t get much better than that!
The net result was that Leslie and Suzanne turned out very fine paintings, Betty joined us for a while and shared art info, and agreed to take paintings tomorrow to Ocean City for their next show. And I was less than happy with mine!