Home Forums Explore Subjects Abstract and Contemporary Art Help if you have trouble with Abstracts

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  • #448536
    Hazartist
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        These may seem like stupid questions, but here goes: I know that you can abstract something with color, and then there are shapes. But, I look at the stuff on here and it’s good, really good. I have trouble “thinking abstract.” I don’t want to just paint shapes for the sake of it. Can someone help me here? Where is a good starting point to study abstract, how to start, and how to make a good abstract piece of art? I don’t want to paint something that a second grader can do or a monkey throwing paint onto a canvas. I want to learn abstract and do it with thought. Is there any help for me? Thanks in advance!

        #526755
        Katie Black
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            You have to start somewhere, and that may mean painting something that looks like c**p!…but that’s fine, its a process, and it takes time, I think your best bet is to use the internet for inspiration and ideas, there is so much out there, also there are numerous books for beginners, which you could start working your way through, but ultimately you just have to paint, every day, and post on WC for feedback once you feel you would like to, and buying a pad of canvas paper is a cheaper way of doing things..good luck

            Katie Black Fine Art

            "Life is far too important to be taken seriously." - Oscar Wilde

            #526763
            artbymdp
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                The development of abstract art is steeped in history. To be truly inspired I would recommend that you learn of its origin. You can view a selection of the many documentaries found on line. Start with Cezanne move on to Picasso and end with Jackson Pollock. Good abstraction isn’t for everyone and as you seem to understand, it is not a decorative art or an expression for those without ability. You are off to a good start since you seem to have the desire. As you learn more, just go for it, step back, learn some more and keep going for it. Before you know it, you will be running circles around that monkey. (However, don’t underestimate the second grader). Good luck and have fun.

                #526752
                davefriend
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                    That is an excellent question or rather series of questions and what I am getting from this is you want to know how to paint abstract art. Before I go on I want to say welcome to the Abstract and Contemporary Art Forum it’s a great place to be and we are glad you found us Hazartist! :thumbsup:

                    I have often asked myself the question how I would teach someone how to paint abstractly or even to paint like I do. On the second part of the question I would say you have to get inside my head and see what I see, feel what I feel, and become the process of moving some of that out of the cluttered mess that is my head and out onto something material, like canvas or something else that is real, so that others can see my insides without having to shrink down tiny enough to enter my head and see it for themselves. So I think there must be an easier way…

                    Traditionally when you wanted to paint flowers, you would go outside to the flower garden and pick some that you like, set them down in way that looks good to you then take your paints and brushes and copy them so that it looks a lot like what you are seeing with the flowers you picked. Some artists can paint flowers so well that you can smell their fragrance and almost feel the warmth of the sunlight as you gaze at the painting. It takes a lot of practice and hard work combined with the knowledge of both painting tools and materials and the techniques to make marks on a surface that will be believable to a viewer’s brain which, hopefully, will immediately recognize the artwork as flowers.

                    In abstraction you still need all the practice and hard work, material and tool knowledge combined with a familiarity of mark making techniques to create an abstract painting. In my mind, at least, the big difference with abstraction is that you do not need to describe the flower in the same way traditional art does. Yes, you may want another person to be able to recognize you are painting a flower …but how do you do that without painting the flowers like you see it?

                    Again, this is just me but I get interested in conveying what the flowers do to me, what happens when I see them, smell them, see them grow and drink in the sunlight Maybe even imagine if I was the flower and what is it like to need to be cared for, dependent on nature, where I live and my caretaker to stay alive and grow …or what if I am, as the flower, now dying because I am no longer cared for or wanted and the sun no longer visits me? Now you can convey all these in traditional art but you don’t want to copy real life you want to convey the emotions and essence of it all.

                    It all seems so esoteric when you put it in words (but then we are talking about abstractions!) and that is why you must create it as art – like painting. Edward Hopper, a talented representational illustrator said, “If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” So I see what the abstract artist doing is appealing to more than the object recognition centers of the brain but to the emotional centers that convey the feelings for, of or about something rather than imitation of its shape and dimension.

                    I will share with you a few pointers to get you started beyond that you will have some momentum that may take you to the finish line.

                    Personally, this is what I do… I set myself to work during a time when I can ‘get lost’ and nobody will go looking for me. I want every breath to be used in pursuit of what I am painting without interruption until I am done or at a stopping place. I know this is idealistic and I am interrupted a lot anyway but this is what I aim for.

                    I usually don’t know what I am going to paint when I start (and often while I am painting – sometimes to the end!). It is just simpler that way and it has taken me a long time to recognize this as an aid to painting.

                    You need to know what colors you want to use. I do have colors that I like to work on and it helps if you are familiar with the properties of a certain palette or multiple palettes. Colors that you combine and ones you like to see playing together. If you don’t know what colors work together then I would suggest you try two or three to start with and find what you can do with them. Which ones are like lovers, always beautiful together or you can use the ones which are always fighting …if you use those colors then you may need a referee color, that is one that can be used as a transition between the clashing colors. There are rules about using color but in my book the only rule is there is no rule if it works and you have to develop an eye along the way to fully be able to judge that.

                    You may or may not like to start with a white canvas …I have always toned mine to some color. You will have to work on what you like and what colors work under the palette you have chosen.

                    At some point during your session you need to remember this, don’t be afraid to do it. Do what? What you were thinking you should do… was what you did a mistake? Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes are what the next masterpiece comes from and maybe what makes the painting you are doing so interesting. I won’t say there are no mistakes but I will say you must throw away the fear of making them. You will and you will benefit from them …you may even learn how to make them the best part!

                    One more thing before you start …you like music? I find music can help me step into ‘the zone’ where everything will come together very much easier than if It is stone quiet. Some people work well in silence but I prefer music.

                    I start in front of the canvas with at least one or two colors chosen and with a large brush (to start with) make a mark somewhere. I really doesn’t matter at this point where. Then make another. Maybe turn your brush a little differently or swoosh the line, pair the brush strokes, make the perpendicular or make them dots, whatever. Stop for a moment and …what is it saying to you? anything? Go on and make a few more creative marks. Stop now and then and take a look. Did you make a face or something recognizable as something from the real world that your brain is saying, oh, that’s a ____! Nooooo! Please try to find a way to work beyond making things, let things make themselves.

                    Now I pay little attention to what I am making and look for things that make me feel something. After I have made a dozen or so marks (and I have only been using one color) I will start to make some more marks with another color (often it is the first color modified with white or another color). What I am trying to do is get the lines, blotches, colors, shapes to say something back to me. If it is still quiet then continue on until you get a response from the painting.

                    If you are not getting it or it is not coming through to you …check and see if you are thinking about things like this: when will I be finished or this is taking so long, this is hard, I’m tired, what’s that noise? Did I pay the rent? If your attention is being sidetracked by this kind of stuff, I would guess that your left brain is still trying to dominate the show and you still need to find the zone where time and distractions have fallen away and you are hardly aware of them. I know people can paint from the left side of the brain – and kudos to you if that’s you – but I am giving you advice from my way so if you are still bothered by them you will have to find a way through it and sharpen up your artistic senses so that you can hear the voice of the work that is talking back to you.

                    Once you hear that voice, you simply respond. Someone sticks their right hand out to you …you extend yours and shake. Driving along someone slams on their brakes in front of you …you put on your brakes. You are thirsty …your get a drink. Hungry …you eat. All are responses to different things. Learn to respond to the emotions of the work. If it is hard at first, keep at it – it will come. eventually it will be like breathing and your hear beating. That is you will hardly be aware of what you are doing and it will look like it all comes naturally.

                    There is so much more and so much more not mentioned. I could go on (and I heard some of you …please don’t! eeek!) but this should be enough for you to cull out what you think may be useful and what you have no need for. The important part is like the Nike commercial says “Just Do It!” Get yourself up, grab the brushes and paint then go make more abstracts. Maybe start small until you feel it more naturally.

                    I did more than a hundred 5×7 abstracts as experiments and practice pieces (still making them too). They are my “Little Panel Project“. You can slap them out in no time and the expenses are much easier to handle than doing grand canvases and getting frustrated.

                    It is obvious that you ‘want to’. Self motivation is the prerequisite to everything else. You can do it! :thumbsup:

                    #526744
                    Hazartist
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                        Wow! Thank you all for your input! I learned a lot just reading what all of you wrote, but I still find abstract scarey. I will be trying. I want to understand all kinds of art but find abstract the most difficult for me. You all are a wealth of knowledge and I’m so glad that I asked my questions.

                        Thank you all sooo much!!!!! And I’ll keep watching this thread in case any more comments come in.

                        #526738
                        Greggo
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                            Each of is so very different, much like the hundreds of definitions written about “What is an abstract?”

                            I feel the painting before I begin, and often draw in vine charcoal on the colored gesso.
                            I always color the acrylic gesso with acrylic paints, usually a bright orange or yellow, as I cannot seem to feel any passion about white bread.

                            I feel the wind fighting the shape of the car, then relaxing with a sweet sigh as if finds the curves that let it feel massaged. I feel the smooth paint, the coldness of the chrome, the hot hood, the luxury of the genuine Corinthian leather (did I just reveal my age?).

                            I do not see an object as much as I sense its place in the greater universe. I imagine what a gardenia smells like as it is admired by a romantic person.
                            then I paint the smell.

                            I try to paint like that all the time, but it is only rarely… well, Van Gogh says it best:

                            “Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I see before me, I make more arbitrary use of color to express myself more forcefully.”
                            (Letter to Theo van Gogh, 11 August 1888)

                            “I feel such creative power in myself that I know for sure that the time will arrive when, so to speak, I shall regularly make something good every day. But very rarely a day passes that I do not make something, though it is not yet the real thing I want to make.”
                            (Letter to Theo van Gogh, 9 September 1882)

                            if you really need to understand abstract artists, just type in “Quotes-Van Gogh” into your search…you will begin to understand

                            greggo

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                            #526739
                            briansommers
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                                I can only share with what I know and what has helped me.

                                Step 1a: buy some cheap paint, like Blick’s Tempura
                                http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-essentials-tempera/
                                I know that a lot of people will tell you to buy the expensive stuff right away, I disagree. If you are rich, then buy the expensive stuff. If you are not than don’t right away. Get a Black and a White then at least Red, Blue and Yellow and any other colors you want but at least those five.

                                Step 1b: buy some cheap paper
                                http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-student-watercolor-paper/
                                I do recomend the big sheets.. why? I find it’s just easier to work on. I find trying to paint small abstracts a lot more difficult than painting big.

                                Step 1c: buy cheap brushes.
                                go to your local hardware store and get a 1″ flat and a 1-1/2″ -2″ flat and whatever else you want.. but that is all you need. The problem with cheap brushes at art stores is that they will be small.. You don’t want small.

                                Step 2: PAINT!
                                a. VERY IMPORTANT: DON’T TRY TO DO “ART” just paint and have fun.. use lots of paint.. pour, drip, splatter, just make a hot mess! press things into the paint.. just bring your inner kid out.. and have a messy painting party. When you are done with all of this mess and you want to now take it to the next level… read on.

                                Step 3: Start studying:
                                In order to paint abstract art you need to learn the “tools” of the “trade”.
                                Learn about the Elements of Art, Design Principles of Art.

                                Here are some great books:
                                http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/147013134X/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

                                http://www.amazon.com/Acrylic-Solutions-Exploring-Mixed-Media/dp/1440321124/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1393680843&sr=8-16&keywords=abstract+painting

                                http://www.amazon.com/Acrylic-Revolution-Techniques-Working-Versatile/dp/1581808046/ref=la_B001JRV8AY_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393680920&sr=1-2

                                and now for some great DVD’s
                                http://www.amazon.com/Scribble-Collage-Hand-Painted-Paper-Davies/dp/B00F1YCJR2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1393681399&sr=8-4&keywords=jane+davies

                                http://www.amazon.com/Acrylic-Abstract-Painting-Evolving-Virginia/dp/B0049PF8I6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1393680944&sr=8-2&keywords=virginia+cobb

                                http://www.amazon.com/Burridge-quot-Abstract-Painting-Collage/dp/B00681M1VQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1393681063&sr=1-1

                                http://www.amazon.com/Joe-DiGiulio-Abstract-Expressionist-Expanded/dp/1935331027/ref=pd_sim_sbs_ac_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1ZTJRSMB1PVXXKMSQ5SG

                                Some other good books to help you in your art indirectly.
                                http://www.amazon.com/Rework-Jason-Fried/dp/0307463745/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393682782&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=rewrork

                                http://www.amazon.com/Steal-Like-Artist-Things-Creative/dp/0761169253/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393682769&sr=1-1&keywords=steal+like+an+artist

                                http://www.amazon.com/Show-Your-Work-Creativity-Discovered/dp/076117897X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393682769&sr=1-2&keywords=steal+like+an+artist

                                At any time, during the books, DVD’s etc.. stop and go back and paint more with what you have learned.. PRACTICE PRACTICE AND THEN YOU GOT IT …………. MORE PRACTICE. Study other artists paintings, living and the dead. Try to paint like them, try to do a Rothko a Jackson Pollack drip painting and whoever else you like.. Post your work online at Wetcanvas and ask for feeback.

                                Now you might want to consider buying higher quality products.
                                Golden Paints
                                http://www.dickblick.com/products/golden-heavy-body-artist-acrylics/
                                M Graham
                                http://www.dickblick.com/products/m-graham-artists-acrylics/
                                Liquitex
                                http://www.dickblick.com/products/liquitex-heavy-body-artist-acrylics/
                                Holbein
                                http://www.dickblick.com/products/holbein-heavy-body-artist-acrylics/
                                Matisse Derivan
                                http://www.jerrysartarama.com/discount-art-supplies/acrylic-paints-and-mediums/matisse-derivan-acrylics-and-mediums/matisse-structure-acrylic-colors.htm

                                many others as well.

                                I have found if you want a very good student grade paint and I even use some of this now, it’s very good.
                                Winsor & Newton Galeria
                                http://www.dickblick.com/products/winsor-and-newton-galeria-flow-acrylics/

                                My favorite type of brushes to paint with is by far the Beste brush, Ocean Wash series
                                They are very soft, can cut a sharp edge and great for glazing and washes. Great for building layers.
                                http://www.jerrysartarama.com/discount-art-supplies/brushes-and-palette-knives/watercolor-brushes/creative-mark-watercolor-brushes/beste-finest-golden-taklon-hair-brushes-and-sets/beste-finest-golden-taklon-hair-brushes.htm

                                If you have any questions or feedback, just ask.

                                Ciao!
                                Brian Sommers
                                My Blog

                                #526769
                                Ishka Baha
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                                    By now you are probably bamboozled by all the great comments you have received. There is also another book that should not be overlooked by Rolina van Vilet, “Painting Abstracts”. There are 65 exercises – covering colour and composition throughout each exercise. It is very concise.

                                    #526733
                                    friesin
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                                        all theses responses are really great!
                                        I am an abstract painter myself because I found out that it is the way I “feel” painting should be.
                                        Difficult to describe this “feeling” as it sounds so esoteric. Thats not me, I am not esoteric at all. But painting for me has to go beyond showing what everyone sees.
                                        This being said I wonder why you want to learn painting abstract while it scaries you?
                                        Painting something that scaries might be a difficult precondition.

                                        This might help in addition to what has been said before:

                                        Take a piece or a landscape you would like to paint. Look at it thoroughly. Squint your eyes.
                                        Paint it. Or draw it. Do that as exactly as you want to as a first step.
                                        Then put it away and start the same again. Try to paint quickly. Try to find out what is the most important aspect of your subject, which is the least must-be so that your subject can still be recognized? What is not necessary?
                                        Then you do it again, maybe one or two days later. Don#t look at the original. Just try to paint from memory.
                                        Paint quickly.

                                        by this you will be able to remove lowly from the realistic way of painting. Try to remember why you want to paint just this one subject. Try to think what is the most important thing in this special subject.
                                        Why f.e. did you want to paint this landscape?
                                        because you know it? Because you like it? Because ypou live in it?
                                        All these might be the answer, but you can go even further: what does this landscape mean to you? What exactly do you want to show with your painting? The soft edge of some hills? the greens in summer? The rough rocks?
                                        Exaggerate those by painting.

                                        Paint standing in front your easel rather than sitting.
                                        Use large brushes, use long brushes. Paint quickly, without hesitating. Avois painting details. Care for contrasts: Dark, light, soft, hard, round, angled, cold, warm, small, big,…)
                                        By this way you slowly move on to painting entirely abstract without needing the crutch of a concrete subject.

                                        Its a long way.
                                        But it is a wonderful and thrilling one :clap: It’s a phantastic one, and it will show so much about yourself. It will enlargen your skills.
                                        Just give it some tries (if you really want to go for abstract), it will be fun!

                                        #526753
                                        davefriend
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                                            I am glad to see there are many good suggestions given by those who have commented.

                                            I hope there will be more added. :crossfingers:

                                            The question of how to paint an abstract comes up often enough that this would be a good time to share your own processes. I am guessing there are as many different ways as there are people willing to share them…

                                            #526730
                                            Jon
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                                                I will remind folks there is a list of helpful books in one of our Sticky threads. I believe they start on post two.

                                                Also, when you encounter a helpful thread as this one I encourage you to take the time and rate it before you leave. The rating system is a drop down menu just atop the first post toward the right side of the screen. As the rating stars add up they will show on the front page to inform other readers our members found the thread helpful.

                                                #526731
                                                Jon
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                                                    Picasso is quoted as saying: “There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.”

                                                    I suggest a first step is simply looking at your subject and then reducing what you see into forms, shapes and colors. Experiment and enjoy!

                                                    #526764
                                                    DMSS
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                                                        This is a wonderful thread. I am no expert, only been painting a year, so my comments are “for what they are worth.”

                                                        One way I start is by toning the canvas or paper with a thin to medium-weight, monochromatic wash. This layer varies as to how much of the canvas shows through, so thicker in parts, and thinner in parts. I try to scan that first layer and see whether I see a glimmer of a shape — kind of like playing the game of what objects do you see in the clouds. If I see something that inspires me, then I try to develop that form, necessarily keeping the form very abstract because I don’t draw all that well, and I play with colors, and compositional elements. I try to just let the painting become what it wants to become. If I don’t see anything in that first layer, I put down another layer with a different color, on all or part of the canvas, maybe scumble it, maybe remove some of the second layer while it is still wet, and try to see “what is in the clouds.”

                                                        Another technique I’ve used I learned from a Peter Dranitsin video on youtube (his youtube channel is called pdranitsin https://www.youtube.com/user/pdranitsin/featured), where he suggested beginning by making a mark that you then repeat in several different places, maybe changing its orientation each time. So, I started one painting by making several S’s, superimposed them on top of each other, just played with them, and then suddenly I’m off and running.

                                                        I usually end up somewhere far away from the initial inspiration.

                                                        I also watched a Virginia Cobb video, http://artclick.tv/content/acrylic-abstract-painting-evolving-image-virginia-cobb that was very interesting. One of the things I learned from her video was the idea of using tools to remove paint (as opposed to just thinking in terms of applying paint).

                                                        I’m glad I stumbled upon this thread because I’ve taken about a 6-month break from painting abstractly, and have been trying to improve my representational painting skills. I decided tonight to do an abstract painting, and was trolling this forum for inspiration with regard to how to get started, and here is this very recent thread which I had not seen.

                                                        Several of the posts have given me some ideas about other ways to approach a painting, so I’m pumped.

                                                        Now to the easel!

                                                        --David

                                                        #526770
                                                        Ishka Baha
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                                                            If you are wondering how to loosen up your abstract painting I think this video is quite enlightening and even if it doesn’t achieve what you are looking for it should make you smile.

                                                            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NABOH1JwAE

                                                            #526771
                                                            Ishka Baha
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                                                                There is also one other video (Mel McCuddin) which I would recommend you watch if you don’t know how or where to start.

                                                                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3wz9wg0Dos

                                                                I found Mel’s video truly inspirational – in fact he inspired me so much that I actually started painting.

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