Abstract Art

I spent last week in south Florida with my daughter and grandkids, but now I’m back to painting in my studio and have finished this second spring painting I’ve been working on. As I did in the first one of this pair, I drew butterfly-like shapes in alizarin crimson and filled them in with a wet brush dipped in color in order to get a translucent effect.  Next, I added berry-like shapes in light blue violet and parchment, and filled them in with a small brush.

Both these paintings remind me of the butterfly garden we visited in a Boca Raton nature center near the beach.  We also saw iguanas, lizards, alligators, turtles, and scads of wonderful birds in Florida.  But it is spring in Ithaca now, too, so we’ll soon have our own butterflies to observe. 

  Slice #22, 10″ x 48″ acrylic on canvas.

I began this abstract drawing with some quick lines radiating from the center, using magenta and red calligraphy pens.  The lines created shapes that spread out in a floral pattern.

Then I got busy with fine line black and red pens, creating more shapes and filling in some of the original shapes with texture.  Finally, I filled in some of the spaces with lavender and peach brush pens. 

When I hold this drawing up, it feels insect-like to me.  What do you think?

I hope it’s not a spider.  I have a spider phobia.

  2012 Drawing #4, 11.5″ x 9″ ink on paper.

I continued working with my new Pentel Arts Aquash Brush to make another drawing on paper.  Once again, as I squeezed the pen, a large amount of the ink came out, forming a puddle.  I dipped the brush in it and created lines spreading out from the central spot. 

After I made the basic design with the Aquash Brush, I outlined the inner shapes of the central image with a fine tipped black pen.  Then I shaded in some of the outer shapes with a gray brush pen.  The main effect of this drawing is that it highlights the negative spaces.

  2012 Drawing #2, 11.5″ x 9″ ink on paper.

Today I focused on finishing one of the two new abstract paintings I’d been working on.  First, I drew butterfly-like shapes in alizarin crimson, and then filled them in using water and a bit more paint on the brush.  I wanted a very translucent effect.

Next, I drew small berry-like circles in light blue violet and filled them in with a small brush.  I purposely covered over some of the brighter yellows with the butterflies and berries, allowing all the images to overlap.

Looking at the canvas, I felt it needed some lightening up.  I tried adding a few of the small circles in parchment, and liked that effect.  After adding more, I stepped back.  This might be finished.  What do you think?

  Slice #21, 10″ x 48″ acrylic on canvas.

I continued to work on the background of two new paintings, beginning by applying flat blocks of color with a palette knife:  cadmium red light, light blue, permanent green light, and cadmium yellow.  Then I decided these were too stark, so I drew lines in white and parchment in random forms across the canvases.  While the paint was still wet, I dipped a large brush in water and blended the colors. 

  Slice #21, 10″ x 48″ acrylic on canvas.

  Slice #22, 10″ x 48″ acrylic on canvas.

Writer, editor, and director of Zee’s writing studio, Zee Zahava has been writing poetry inspired by my paintings.  Here are a few of her gems:

        noon sun
        burns through the heart of a sunflower
        bursting seeds

            –Zee Zahava

  What They Meant, 48″ x 48″ acrylic on canvas.

                on the other side of the room

                my sister

                wrapped in purple silk

                continues the story

                when i pause for breath

                    –Zee Zahava

  Twin Stories, 40″ x 40″ acrylic on canvas.

        tucked in for the night
        tortoise on his sandy bit
        of beach front

                –Zee Zahava

  Tortoise View, 36″ x 36″ acrylic on canvas.

Zee also publishes a literary journal featuring writing from the women in her writing circles called The Painted Parrot.

Over the past couple of years I’d painted some large paintings on paper with the paper size 48″ x 36″ and the image 46″ x 34″.  But I ran out of the paper, and forgot what I’d originally used.  I had gotten a roll of 36″ ink-jet water-color paper, which worked great, so I looked online and bought another roll.  Then I had a friend, Stan Bowman (artist and printer), help me cut it on his large format ink-jet printer. 

First I flattened the paper, then I taped a sheet to pegboard with painter’s tape.  Then, using a wide brush, I painted a free-form black shape, freely allowing spatters and drips.  After that, I drew some black lines, and voila:

  Paper Painting #5, 46″ x 34″ acrylic on ink-jet paper.

I’m not sure if you can see it from this view, but the paper wrinkled up and stayed that way!  In other words, this paper is not good for painting on. 

This is how I usually learn my lessons:  the hard way.  And then I did some research to find out what kind of paper I had originally purchased that worked so well.  It was Breathing Color Elegance Velvet.  I just ordered a roll. 

Doug Baird is an Ithaca artist with a great sensibility for the drawn line as well as digital collage.  He often starts with a photograph he’s taken of something that speaks to him, and then begins to add layers of drawings and digital manipulations.

  GLASSWARE 20121 by Doug Baird

His work ranges from images that look completely abstract to those that still delineate clearly the underlying photographic image. 

  BIRD FEEDERS L by Doug Baird

  LOWLANDS LANDSCAPE G by Doug Baird

Some of his work is strictly line drawing, or line drawings imposed on line drawings, like this one:

    BIG IDEA 18TH B by Doug Baird

Doug says that his images “do not deny representational means, but give weight to all the perceptions in an attempt to reach a closer approximation to the experience of seeing.”

Doug has a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and has exhibited original drawings and prints of his images in a variety of venues in Ithaca, NY.  You can see more of his work at DougBairdArt.com.

First, I am excited to report that a short essay of mine was just published in The Painted Parrot, an online literary journal.  It publishes the work of writers from Zee Zahava’s Women’s Writing Circles in Ithaca, New York. 

It’s been fun exloring through writing as well as painting.  I think it’s often true that creative people have more than one creative interest.  It’s difficult enough in life to explore one, no less two creative pursuits, but I’m at a point now where I have the luxury to do that.

So what do you think?  Is this painting “finished”?

  Canvas #135, 30″ x 30″ acrylic on canvas.

Is it boredom or perversity that brings us to try some weird technique or color combination?

I began two new abstract paintings, covering the background in a light dull turquoise and letting them dry.  Then I started to brush on blocks of color I had already mixed with water:  a pale yellow, green, brown, red and black.  But a couple of the colors were very thin and started to drip. 

At first, I wiped up the drips, but then I decided to just let them go and even encouraged them to drip more.  Now what am I going to do next time to make this thing work?

  Canvas #135, 30″ x 30″ acrylic on canvas.