Exploring abstraction this month
Jenny Nelson workshop
I’m taking Jenny Nelson’s online “Exploring Abstraction” course this month and it’s making my brain fizz!
I’ve always felt that abstract painting is the purest form of painting. It’s all about colour, shape, value, line, texture, repetition, and on and on, while not being at all about objects. Over the years, I’ve tried my hand at it and found myself making never- ending paintings in which each new mark requires me to make other marks ad infinitum. When are they done? I have no idea. I’m incapable of announcing: finished so, instead, I abandon the work, There are many of those sad creatures languishing in the studio.
This course is good for me because I have homework to submit which forces me to call a halt to my work, upload it and simply move on. Solving every problem is not possible and I’m learning acceptance. That’s refreshing.
Above, are the first 2 lessons - small, manageable charcoal and collage pieces from which I’ve already learned a lot.
I discovered that I tend to shoot shapes out of the upper left quadrant of a composition; that I work with more dark than I care for, and that my compositions are very energetic. Knowledge is the first step to change and these are very informative.
My hope is that this course will help me explore new compositions in my representational works because I am, at my core, a painter of nameable things. Still, as I tell my students, we are all, essentially, abstract painters. We make coloured shapes on a 2-dimensional surface and those shapes need to be attractive and interesting enough to catch the viewer’s eye from across the room - before the subject of the painting is even apparent.
To help me in my endeavours, I bought this gorgeous book about Ivon Hitchens, a British painter who balanced between abstracted realism and pure non-representational art. It’s a balancing point that I find very attractive. Maybe, someday, I’ll get closer to it.
Enjoy and happy painting!
I started learning Abstract Painting using acrylics and mixed media about 2 years ago. I had been painting representational with oil for years. I have to say it has been the hardest to learn, but the most fun and the most challenging. I found that if I paint on larger canvases (like 48 inches to 72 inches), it is even more satisfying. The smaller the surface, the harder it is for me with abstracts. I now buy unrolled canvas and cut it myself, and have been learning how to stretch them. I now love painting abstracts, and now really enjoy acrylics. I have also learned how to respond to my marks, lines, and shapes, and when I no longer have a response, I sign it.
I loved reading this, Ingrid. I too, find abstract painting a real challenge. Every time I attempt it I end up inserting something representational in it, often birds. I'm always searching for something I recognize in my marks. Like William said below, I look forward to seeing if this changes your work going forward, even though I love your work just the way it is.