Posts Tagged ‘abstract oil painting’
The Life of Cubism
One of the many faces of abstract art dates back to the early 20th century in the days of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Cubism took on the idea that an object or event could be represented from a variety of different viewpoints while, later, analytical cubism followed more of a monochrome scheme that depicted unemotional paintings and uneventful subjects.
Since its coming of age, cubism has been copied by many artists who strive to follow in the brilliant footsteps of these two men, therefore, creating an endless stream of abstract oil paintings. Looking at this genre of artwork, you’ll see an unsymmetrical sense of geometry that spreads throughout the entire canvas. From portraits of people and things, cubism was always able to capture a daring imagination of the artists.
Chrisfield, Maryland
Chrisfield, Maryland, must have been a thriving metropolis in its heyday. It is located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay not far from the Virginia state line. In its day, the boats of the watermen were full of crabs, oysters, clams and all sorts of fish. Today, it is but a ghost of its former self.
Today, my friends and I went to Chrisfield to paint. While they were doing small 8” x 10” renderings of a building with boat and grasses, I did a large (20” x 20”) oil painting of that same old building and its surrounding walkways. I like doing large paintings… I have room to move around, to breathe, however, painting a building was a stretch for me because I usually don’t do construction. We all enjoyed a perfectly beautiful day with temps in the mid 70s, such a relief from the hot summer!
Fort Loramie
On Sunday, my sister and her husand went to visit his mother in Minster, OH, very close to Fort Loramie, originally built as a protection from the Indians 150+ years ago. The plan was to take her to lunch and later go back to her home and spend some time visiting with her and attending to any of her needs.
It worked out that after lunch, I was able to go to the beautiul lake at Fort Loramie to do an abstract oil painting. Nowadays, it is an especially nice place to paint because along much of the lake is a park with trees and grassy areas, just right for a picnic and leisurely afternoon.
Friday’s Painting
Friday, I had set aside time to do some landscape painting but had no idea where I would go. Several people had made suggestions and on Friday I checked them out, but non appealed to me.
I continued down Nanticoke Road toward the Bay and realized that I would have to go on a side road if I wanted to find a tree with personality. All the trees along the main road were straight and beautiful. I even checked out several side roads along the way.
When I reached the Westside Fire Station, just before the road makes a sharp left, I went straight, onto Bivalve Wharf Road, and through a residential area where I hit pay dirt! There, on the right were 3 giant trees with real personality, some leaves, and lots of bare branches. Fortunately, I had a large canvas with me – just the size for those beautiful trees! What a fun afternoon I had!
A Blob of Color or a Work of Art?
Impressionism was just one of the first purposeful departures from realism, which had held sway in the art world for hundreds of years. While impressionists added rich color and strong emotional responses to realistic objects and settings, abstract artists took a different, more radical approach.
Abstract art was born out of the idea that art needed to bear only a slight resemblance to its source material – or perhaps none at all. When one views a work of total abstraction, it’s impossible to get a frame of reference based in reality. Mark Rothko is one of the best known painters in the abstract expressionist school. Although his most famous paintings could be accurately described as horizontal bands of color, they do the job that all unique abstract paintings strives toward. They evoke a certain feeling.
Making a New Apartment Feel Like Home
Several months ago, I found a job in a new city and drove all the way across the country. Settling in a new apartment is always an exciting experience; the white walls present a blank canvas that can be decorated any way I like. Spending time in such a barren, sterile environment drives me crazy, which is why I immediately went online in search of some oil paintings.
My favorite kind of art transports me to a different era or at least a different physical location. If I can’t take the time to travel to distant lands myself, I can at least take a momentary journey of the mind by living vicariously through an impressionist painting. Furniture and other home decorating essentials can wait a while – the first order of business is to dress up the walls.