Abstract or absurd?

You have not seen an abstract from me for a while. Funny thing happened several years ago when strolling through an art show with my mother-in-law. She pointed to a booth and said, "those are absurds." I said, "you mean abstracts?" She said, "well, yes, absurd, abstract, whatever."

Here is Abstraction, original 21" x 29", watercolor with a bit of collage, available in my Etsy shop.

Abstraction

Ah, driven to abstraction. Sometimes I just love to think of a pleasing palette and then apply bold strokes, wet-in-wet, thinking about shape placement. For you painters, this one is Maimeri Bleu Verde, DS Undersea green and WS Cad Scarlet.

Here is Scarlet Splash, 11" x 14", original watercolor painting available in my Etsy shop and on Ebay.

Color Series

New series - color, shape and impact! Yes, I'm bouncing all over the creative map once again. On the way to my Tetons series I got waylaid. The brilliant orange/red of the trees and the intense blue autumn sky captured my imagination. To showcase those two colors I placed each on a complimentary color by masking the focal shapes then layering the background with multiple washes. The result.

Here is Tomato on Teal, 15" x 20", original watercolor.



Here is Blue on Chocolate, 11" x 15", original watercolor.


And now, back to the mountains....

Driven to Abstraction

Whew it's hot at Lake of the Ozarks today! I'm driven to abstraction with projects and trying to keep cool!

Recently took a workshop with John Salminen concentrating on design and shapes. He FORCED us to spend 3 days constructing a full-sheet abstract. It was perhaps the most in-depth instruction I have had in 16 watercolor workshops and I highly recommend him.

Our focus was on shape first, then warm/cool, path to the focal point and finally focal emphasis. I have sold 2 pieces in this style and am really enjoying the process. It is first a complex contour drawing followed by glazes, a bit of collage and finally some acrylic usually black.

How do you approach an abstract as a painter? Methodically or whatever happens? As a collector, do you look for emotion or color or size or something else?

Here is Abstraction, 21" x 29".

Here We Go

This new work is titled Pedestal. I really hit my stride painting it, completeing it in about 15-30 minutes. That would be the only way to accomplish the fresh, once-over, just-right blend and flow that happened here.

It's going to the Saint Louis watercolor Society's 11th annual members awards exhibit, Big Splash '08 in August. After that, for sale. Prints are available now in my Etsy shop.