Painting Abstract Art for beginners

Esme, welcome to A2k. Miro is my hero.

There is such a thing as becoming "over-instructed." You begin picking up academically controlled techniques and motifs that can squelch a budding talent. As to oils against acrylics, as one really should paint large (at least 4 x 5 feet) when painting abstracts, oils can become really expensive. I like their luminosity in some cases and if you were to do stain painting (thin, transparant color over color), oils would be preferable. Impasto, especially with all the mediums available for acrylics to obtain interesting textures, would be best with acrylics. I've painted with both. It is true that in a closed room, it's not a good idea to continually breath turpentine and the other elements in oils.

Hi Joanne, thanks for saying hello.
Miró..aahh, well he is not exactly my hero as well , but a very good artist. very consistent, sticking to *his* art.
and this is for Dek too: if an artist evokes feelings in you, good or bad, he didn´t fail (for you).
Miró cheers me up, somehow. Dunno why :wink:

Esme, great post, you didn't talk too much at all, at all.

Well Said!
Lightwizard's observations and recommendations are excellent!

Thank you LightWizard..and Dek for getting such an interesting conversation going. Personally, I learned much reading all the contributions. Additionally, I was reminded important points, that I had forgotten. Actually, thank you to all the posters!

fatima10

art
Just discovered this thread. Great to have you back among the living, Lightwizard. It seems to me that--based on my experience at least--the abstract painter is IN A SENSE always a beginner. It's just that with time s/he becomes a better beginner. Once the abstract painter becomes too "skilled" technically, and too committed to or dependent upon technical tricks, s/he loses the spontanety needed for living (even surprising) images. The improvement experienced is the result of craftsmanship, a sense of control over the mediums of choice. I don't think that is the same as dependence on technical procedures or strategies.

art
Dek, I'm happy for you--a wise decision. (I'm referring to your first post)

DEK
What do you think of non-objective art, a 'sister' to abstract art, some may say. Some may say, NOT!

fatima10

art
FATIMA, I should wait for our more experienced artists to respond first, but I can't resist the risk of suggesting that abstract art can be either non-objective in that it makes no reference to objects of our experience other than color, line, form, proportion, texture, value, contrast, harmony, etc. etc. (it is pure visual music as it were), or it may abstract forms FROM objects of experience. Often, when I begin a non-objective work forms emerge that suggest objects and I'm captured by an objective theme. Other times I begin with the plan to make forms that capture what I think are the essence of some objective theme but end up preferring to focus on the purely aesthetic elements that emerge. Very complicated. Meyer Shapiro once wrote that all art consists of form and content. In representational work, when it is artistically successful, there is both content organized with respect to aesthetically organized form; in non-objective (non-representational) art form IS content. I like that formulation very much. I only hope I got it right.

ossobuco,
Thanks it might be an idea for me to look those reduced Toxicity oils up, I have a feeling I'll be painting almost entirely indoors after I've finished clearing space in my spare room that is

Hi Esme,

I'm an absolute beginner! I'm in the initial throws of researching the best way to achieve that I want

I would imagine that I'll be using a variety of materials in the Class I'm going to be taking but as for jumping straight to Oils, maybe there is a little bit of newbie impatience and lack of experience at play…

Thanks for the words of support; I'm certainly one who approaches anything I do with a sense of enjoyment and blissful ignorance at personal criticism although I do value constructive criticism. I'm a very laid back chilled out kinda guy anyway, I rarely get stressed in my hectic day job so I doubt I'll do so when I'm painting for pleasure.


DeK

Lightwizard,
Yep I would agree on being over instructed, the plan is to get the minimum to get started (appreciation of colour balance etc) and then have a go, when I think I need more I'll go look for it. The more experience I get the more likely I will choose the right source of instruction.

As for cost, I've had a few comments on this from people via PM as well. Having looked briefly into the cost I don't think it will be a problem for me.

A thought does occur to me though, maybe I'm approaching this all wrong anyway. Would it not be better to experiment with lots of mediums and find the right one for me? Oils do appeal to me though….


Thanks
DeK

Re: Well Said!


I agree! Thanks all

Re: art


Wise words, this really struck a cord with me

I'm really into my Life restyle kick

Lightwizard
I totally agree with likenening art to music - i use exactly the same arguement when trying to explain abstract art to my father or husband (they have no understanding of it all).

Abstract is just like jazz, flying free but always relating back and 'talking' to other marks/colours in the way jazz musicians 'talk' to each other. A mood can be created or emotion, without figurative or descriptive passages.

Esme
that advice you gave was excellent - it seems a shame you gave up teaching!

Lost this site
For some reason, I thought that this discussion had ended. I **just** found it, with new additions, since my last posting.

Again,everyone, thanks for all the information and the challenges that your ideas have presented! Your words, ideas, suggestions, information, truly have made me re-evaluate much of my thinking and techniques. Additionally, I have learned a great deal, as I said before.

There are so many great points made on this thread, I see the possibility of at least 20 off-shoots, from Dek's initial question.

I do not wish to go on ad nauseum on this posting ,but there are questions of so many of you that I must have the answers to, or an explanation...or discussions with others on their thoughts and actions.

What really 'rocked my world' <pardon such a common saying , but true> was the discussion about abstract and objective art. I am still reeling from your suggestion of how you view it. Hmmm. I think that I was being, perhaps too much a purist <please read: academic hair-splitter>???????

Esme, one never says too much when it is of value. I thought you stopped short of your lesson! {That is intended to be a compliment}

The suggestion to start with more tame medias is such a sound piece of advice.

Now, I am going back to reread this posting.

Thank you.

fatima10

The best advice I can give you is: Have fun with paint.

Get a palatte, some nice, stiff brushes, a gessoed canvas, a medium (i.e. liquin, turpentine and poppyseed oil, or water if you're using acryllic)

And just have fun! Experiment with color, texture, and shapes. Have so much fun/experimentalness that you could kick artistic butt like a kindergartener with a new set of crayons.

Repeat as desired.


If you want to be fancy, you can let it dry for 6-8 months (if oil) then brush a thin layer of art varnish on it. (This will keep the paint looking wet.)

nice stiff brushes yes - but also large soft flowing ones - those with long bristles (about 2 inches) that are sold by DIY stores for varnishing are nice to use. Also palette knives, rollers, jugs for pouring .....

hmm yeah. Or whatever else he wants to use. I dunno, chopsticks, latex gloves with holes punched in them. Being new to art is so fun because there's no pressure and you can be highly experimental. If it looks like crap, it doesn't matter, and you probably learned somthing from it.
Sorry, stiff meaning "springy" as in, a good brush, one with bristles that spring back after you pull them, not ones that splay or hang loose like some flaccid watercolor brush :wink: (I am, of course, assuming he's not doing watercolor...) I hate those little stiff round brushes used for stencilling/pointillism yech...