Exercise: Dripping, dribbling and splattering.
Its fair to say that the abstract element of this course has been one that I have been dreading. I think because that I have been used to painting in oils I have the catholic guilt feeling about the immediacy of the concept of abstract art. It is a feeling that if a painting hasn’t been slaved over for hours of in respect of time, then perhaps its worth is less.
However, this exercise was strangely enjoyable and freeing. I think it’s a lesson in loosening up my fear of being judged (in regards to how a painting compares as a realistic representation) allows for further experimentation in expression.
I found myself immediately feeling that my painting had a ‘right way up’ and had a landscape/city feel about it. A more abstract city scape is a theme I would like to explore in my final assignment.
I attempted this exercise with some trepidation. I haven’t attempted any abstract paintings before, and the ability to make unrecognisable shapes into a convincing painting seems an extraordinary skill.
So with some caution, I painted two paintings, one large, and one small (mainly as these were the only size canvas’s I had available on the day.
The first, less successful was the larger canvas, that I prepared with a dark acrylic black background. I’ve had some large pots of CMYK paints in my loft for some time and these colour mixes of magenta cyan yellow and black seemed a good start to play with how to apply paint onto the canvas without worrying too much about the colour mixes to start off with.
After splattering paint I didn’t feel I was getting anywhere, so the urge to create an almost planet like shape emerged mid canvas. I feel this was an unsuccessful exercise.
My second attempt, however on the much smaller canvas, and I really like this.
This time I prepared a much lighter ground and used the paints in an almost watercolour constancy and over the bathtub dripped and splattered paint onto the canvas.
This was much more successful as I had a abstract understanding of what the painting was, and which way up it should be viewed. This reminded me of a recent trip to London and the view over the river Thames from the millennium bridge
This sense of abstract has helped me think about a series of landscape paintings for my final project.
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