I’m enjoying my experiments with acrylic paints. While I still write every day – journaling, blog posts, and fiction – I have found painting to be a relaxing way to express myself.
My current routine is to lay the canvas out on the table and look at it for a while to sort of soak it in. It’s not unlike looking at the blank page before I start writing. Ideas begin to form. I start to pull colors from the bin I keep them in, mixing and matching to see what will work best with the images I see in my mind. Once a few things click together, I get started.
I continue to waver back and forth between painting landscapes and abstract pieces. They both hold a fascination for me. With landscapes, it’s about representing nature, the trees, the grass, the flowers, and how they all come together. I take a lot of photos when I’m outdoors and I find inspiration in natural beauty.
But with abstract art, I feel I can express myself more intimately. With landscapes, I’m mimicking what I see. With abstract painting, I can work with my feelings and emotions. The canvas becomes something like a journal where I can vent my joys and sadness. It’s more personal.
Two of my most recent works fall into the latter category. They are the result of playing with colors based on my mood at the time I was painting.
For this one, I was experimenting with color and movement. In a way, I wanted it to look sort of like an explosion of color, but I didn’t want it to be too bright. While I like bright colors, I’m partial to muted colors. My partner says I’m a fall and winter color person, so I’ll use that as my excuse.
I like how it turned out. It catches my attention without being gaudy and shows movement and flow.
This next piece is an experiment with shape. What I’ve enjoyed the most with this painting is the reactions of the people who view it. Is it a pair of eyes? Two aliens? Some weird fruit? I’ve received some interesting observations.
Personally, I see it as two individuals, close together but separate, each with an identity. I know that sounds like I’m over-analyzing in a college humanities class, but I’m not trying to be pretentious. Art is always open to interpretation, even by the artist themselves. This has been one of my favorite paintings, so far.
I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing these two paintings. I know I’ve been having fun learning to be a painter. Also, I’ll be setting up a new page on my blog to showcase my visual art output. I hope you’ll come back soon to check it out.
RB