My First Try: Painting Abstract on Canvas
Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.
Buddha
I have covered almost all of the first layers but that was how it should be. How it had to be.
This time in front of my square formed canvas I was trying to feel abstract inside. Now it was easier. I stay looser and don’t think as much. I cover up some parts and emphasize other. I just keep going, trusting that what ever is supposed to be will be. I guess that is trusting your artistic instincts, even when you don’t know what you are doing…
I am altering between feeling happy about the paint and my brush strokes and feeling lost and confused.
Just as I am ready to give up (take a break) for the day because I can’t get any further I scrape of the purple from my palette and it is finished. I just feel that I am done with this one. Purple is a very unusual colour for me, but I just know that the painting is finished now. I like it, I really like all the different parts of it. I look closely at each corner and it is really true, it is a finished painting. I grab the heavy structure gel and paint it on as a coat of varnish, then I leave it to dry.
It doesn’t have a name yet… I might just call it Abstract number 1.
It is silly how much I like this painting, my first try at abstract art. This is very silly but I admit it; I took my painting with me to bed and held it in my knee for a while before I fell asleep. I really like how it turned out, and I see more paintings in my future.
I love this painting! It’s so beautiful and so is the post, the way you described this whole new process for you. I’m so relieved that I’m not the only person in the world who occasionally brings artwork into bed. Your friend in germany, tj
I really like this…great colors and lots of action…also your weaving below looks fabulous!!!! Thanks for the inspiration this Wednesday:)
TJ, thanks! What a gift it is to be able to love what we create! I wish I had a huge white wall where I could hang everything I create to admire it for a while and see the collection grow! Maybe one day…
Cynthia, thanks for your visit! So glad you like the painting too, I wasn’t sure anyone else would “see” it my way… :-)
I love that you are exploring abstract art and totally know what you mean about feeling good about the process but sometimes feeling lost and confused. I think it’s that struggle and process that makes the whole thing art! You are working with the painting, the colors the movement, etc to make something emerge… it’s definitely so freeing and above all – FUN! I will definitely have to try this more loose and free expression method of painting…rather than a really controlled drawing or such…which is still fun, but so different!
IYou have inspired me to take a painting to bed with me tonight…one is really giving me brain-ache – I just don’t know what to do next…it’s not finished….and I like it….
so maybe if I let it be near my dreams tonight, It will ‘speak’ to me tomorrow…!
I love it, too, Hanna. The combination of colors and circular movement seem like peaceful spots in an otherwise linear and angular world.
I don’t think it’s silly at all!
I think this is a beautiful painting. I love how it looks. ♥
And I know that wonderful feeling of having created something we truly love – it’s awesome! It feels so good :-)
I’m glad you felt that way :)
this is a beauty! i agree, it looks totally finished, and you should be proud of it!
I think it’s beautiful!
It is gorgeous. I love it.
Oh wow! Thank you for your kind words!
I love how you love this painting.
Once I painted a self-portrait and I loved it so much I didn’t leave the house for a couple of days because I didn’t want to leave it.
Claire, thanks for your comment and honesty about your own love for painting. I hope you still paint and fall in love with your creations every now and then!? :-)
i had a friend that was an abstract painter who always kept turning his canvas as he worked. he painted really large pieces, using brushes, rollers, pallet knives and whatever he found.
nice job. looks like it was fun.
Lovely… I see a fairy world with a floating purple castle…
I have an easel in my bedroom and when I create a painting I really love, I leave it on there so I can see it before going to sleep and as soon as I wake up.
Hugs,
Sophie
Hanna, This is so very wonderfully YOU! The color, the happy look and feel, the hidden layers. How fun to expand into something new, with all of the art you have created over the years as a basis.
Nice ! How did you paint it ? With a brush ?
That’s difficult to make abstract and you did a good job, I think, for your first try!
Have a good day!
Beautiful! I can appreciate your apprehension when beginning to make abstract art! I too am embarking on this journey with my painting and at times I say to myself, “what a mess I’ve made” and other times I love the piece. I have promised myself that I will continue to experiment, as I love abstract. Your painting is gorgeous! Can you share what materials you used to create it, meaning, brushes, palette knife, stencils, etc. I love it.
Thank you for all you lovely comments!
Anne-Laure and Patti, I didn’t think to share what kind of materials I used because it was so simple. Just one flat quite soft brush and acrylic paint on a gessoed canvas. No stencil used, the circles are painted freely.
Now that you remind me of it I will try my unused palette knife next time! On my wish list now is an easel, I have never tried painting standing up.
Oh, this is very very good. I truly think abstract is your genre. Would love to see more abstract painting from you.
Hugs,
Catherine
Wow, Catherine, thank you! I’m not sure yet but I promise there will be more abstract paintings soon. I’ve got three on my desk right now… :-)
I’m glad you love it because it is magnificent! Well done for being so brave and at the same time giving me courage to be brave too!
hanna – love hearing about this piece, and your venture into abstract. fun colors and composition. i really connect with this genre and can swept away for hours just painting to see what emerges. so let me ask you this – did taking the painting to bed affect your dreams that night??
Thanks for your comment! Michelle, painting is a lot of fun. I don’t remember any specific dreams from that night, but I’m sure I was painting abstract in some dream the week after so I was sure working to solve the problem full time! :-)
You are so right, Hanna. This is good. I bet, since I’m so late, there is already a future one.