I enjoy painting these minimalist abstracts. I did not think of them with that term before. But it is a perfect description. Thank you Suzette! I am interested in the minimalist movement. But I am not sure I could ever follow it wholeheartedly. I am a collector of, a few things. LOL. I think most artists are in one way or another.
These start with color. For me. Mood. What feels right. I choose the colors, then think about arrangement and proportion. I tend to go bottom heavy. Weighted. Darker colors below, lighter on top. I think part of that is from my training as a framer. LOL.
For the center bands, I tape off the area to be painted. It ranks even with blending in ease. With blending you have less control. With taping, you are at the mercy of Murphy’s law. And your tape. Haha.
I place two pieces of tape together, so that there is very little actually sticking to the piece. One inch tape, offset slightly lengthwise. On day 7, the green side came out almost perfect. But I had a lot of teeny tiny touching up to do on the buff side. I had to pull out the magnifier. LOL. Day 8 was almost perfect, except for a big blob of buff on the blue.
Whatever the medium, there is the difficulty, challenge, fascination and often productive clumsiness of learning a new method: the wonderful puzzles and problems of translating with new materials. Helen Frankenthaler
A painting is not a picture of an experience, but is the experience. Mark Rothko
Heeeyyyy everyone! Welcome to the 30-Day Creative Gathering. 🙂 Hope you’re ready to get in the groove, and have some fun. I have to admit, I wasn’t sure I had enough mojo to participate. But I chatted with some of you, and we sort of talked each other into it. Ha-ha. That’s what friends are for ‘ey?!
It may have hit me late, but a few days ago, I started to get really excited. And here I am. One more time.
This will be my 13th 30-day challenge. Ten of them were with Leslie Saeta in her 30 Paintings In 30 Days events. Leslie changed her focus a couple of years ago, and a few of us wanted to continue the challenge. Yay! Christiane Drieling and I co-founded the 30-Day Creative Gathering on Facebook. Follow the links to see samples from the events.
Let’s kick it ya’ll!
My piece for day one is a do-over. And I most likely will be trying this again. It is a huge canvas that has been hanging on my wall unfinished, ever since we moved to Arizona. Four years!! Truth be told, it was unfinished for even longer than that. I had once painted a scene on it. Then I moved, and I prepped it for the new space. Haha, that is as far as I got. Honestly, I just never could decide what I wanted to see on the wall. And what I had the courage to attempt. LOL. 🙂
But it’s only paint, and I can start all over if I want to. This canvas may make an appearance again later this month.
I don’t have room to paint on a canvas this size. I painted it on my bed. Haha. I painted the sky first, stopped for dinner, and then worked on the rest. Here is my first try. I apologize for the terrible photo. The dark area is my shadow.
I am going to critique this, but know that I am happy with it to an extent. I am sharing my thoughts on the process to help clarify what I learned. Happy as always for the learning!
Tools For Day One.
I did not have the right colors on hand, and I do not have the right tools for a large piece. I used a 2-inch brush for the sky and land. Dotted (poured) the colors on, and then blended. Adding spritzes of water as needed.
For the ocean area, I used the same technique to get a base layer of color. Next, I used palette knives, a gift card, a one-inch brush, and my fingers. I used both craft paints and artist paints. Also matte gel for extra body.
The dark band at the top of the sky actually looks perfect in daylight. It is softer and blends well. I still have “lines’ of color, but it’s no longer like nails on a chalkboard. Haha. 🙂
You can click on any image below if you want a closer look.
Texture.
Waves Close-Up 1
Waves Close-Up 2
Misty 1
Misty 2
Misty 3
I was trying to mimic the feel of a painting by Hiroshi Matsumoto. I love his work. I had narrowed down my favorites to: May 2019, and June 2019. I love the feel of these two.
I decided on his June piece. The light, the shades of blue, the misty horizon. The abstract, chunky colors. The southern California-ness.
It bombed. Haha, haha. I just don’t have the right tools. I think I needed larger knives. Heavier body paint. I changed course midstream.
After looking at my piece on the wall, I have decided I want something calm in that space. Color, with hints of detail. Haha. Make up your mind Sheila!
Lastly, I think the main problem with this piece, is that it feels like separate paintings, chopped and put together. It isn’t integrated. Unified.
I promise I won’t write a novel for each piece this month. Thanks for visiting, suggestions are welcome! Happy creating everyone! 🙂
