A Journey of a Painting –

https://youtu.be/mlJ8NnaeafkA journey of a Painting…

“What a wonderful journey it was…”

 

I am talking about my latest “Journey of a Painting” that I shared on my Youtube Chanel. If you haven’t watched all four parts yet, you can begin with Part #1 here.

I am inspired by inspiring others.

 

“My hope is that by sharing my creative journey, I explore an “intuitive” approach which enables me to “let go” of the end result in order to explore, discover, and reveal my inner world through paint and mixed media, in all ways that are joyful, fulfilling, it will inspire and motivate you to explore and even discover the art that is authentic to you.” 

 

I believe this “journey of a painting” is worth talking about because I think there is a common misperception, especially amongst the general public and beginners, of just how much goes into creating a good abstract painting.

Also, by providing more insight into my art process, it may help and inspire others who are thinking about venturing down the road of abstract art.

It is not an easy journey but a very fulfilling one.

 

Just keep going… “One layer at a time.”

 

The Journey Begins…

 

I so enjoyed this particular journey as I made some breakthroughs. Finding clarity, for me anyway, has not happened overnight and still might be a long time coming for most. This is acceptable because I am in this for the long run and do expect more challenges along the way. It’s all about learning how to deal with the challenges abstract work and using an intuitive art process brings. It’s all about finding our voice and our own way.

We are the creators of our own road map, no one else.

 

Painting Over Older Work:

 

After reorganizing my studio for the 100th time, I came across some paintings that have been resting for too long and decided to paint over them. I discovered this from another artist who does this to work that has been sitting around too long. What a great idea!

I started these paintings with a new technique I had learned which involved attaching several pieces of collage, cardboard, or fabric as a relief then coating them with 2 layers of gesso. What a fabulous new start! This left so many possibilities for texture.

 

Play, Don’t Plan!

 

This can be a fun stage along with a clear understanding of your likes, dislikes, marks, patterns, and shapes. I believe there is a “discovery” phase needed before this stage of the process.

Explore, play, discover. Repeat! Keeping image records and notes is also a huge help!

 

During the beginning stage you might ask yourself these questions:

1. What do I want in my work?
2. What do I want my work to feel like?
3. What types of layers do I want to use?
4. Do I have enough richness in the layers?
5. Do I need to add more?

 

More often than not, beginning artists tend to stop too soon. 

Below is an image of the beginning stage. My intention for this piece was to discover new shapes while using colors I would not usually use. I chose yellow. The big yellow rectangle with white circles in the middle of my painting is what I got stuck on so…

 

 

I asked myself:

1. What do I like/ dislike?
2. What is working/not working?
3. Does it feel right?

I decided to make the yellow square into a layer while tweaking with the values, marks, and colors and covering the blue circle. Learning to “let go” takes practice. You can watch Part #2 here.

As you can see, I changed my mind many times in order to respond to the changes that ai made. I just kept trying things and kept going even when I did not like what was happening. We need to give ourselves permission for this.

Remembering to…Play Don’t Plan!

I also have a blog about five ways to start a mixed media collage. It might be helpful. Here is the link.

I’m just having fun with this bright color palette and circular patterns! The more the merrier!

 

 

Middle Stage:

Discovering where you want to go:

Asking myself more questions:

1. Do I like the darks?
2. What belongs/ doesn’t belong?
3. Do I like the shapes?

 

Instead of using paint, I sometimes just grab some collage papers to check which colors I might add or delete. Learning to let go has been a longer process than I expected. As you can see, i decided to cover the flowers even though I liked the colors, they did not work. Learning to let go…

You can watch Part #3 here.

 

Late Middle Stage:

Clarifying and Simplifying!

This stage tends to move more slowly as there are more thoughtful decisions to make.

This stage is more about the “feeling” for me. Organizing the lights and darks of my work and paying closer attention to the “differences” of colors, edges, shapes, and values. Also creating some “quiet” areas for the eye to rest. I love the quiet lighter values for this purpose.

I also discovered a new curvilinear black shape that I repeat in different ways. I will be exploring this shape more in future paintings.

 

 

Final Stage:

Fine-tuning the work:

How do we fine-tune our paintings?

Once I clearly knew that I was at the final stage the painting needed to rest for a couple of days. Why?

I needed to make sure that there was nothing catching my eye or jumping out of the painting. After letting it rest for a couple of days, I made some slight tweaks like; subtle surprises with text, line, and color.

You can watch Part #4 here.

 

In the end, I knew the black dots were too much but I didn’t want to cover them up entirely. I think the different sizes of rectangles and circles are working. The warmth of the yellow is still apparent but with more subtlety. I usually finish with tiny dots but be careful not to overdo it.

So when creating an abstract art journaling page remember that:

• The “quiet” parts have a louder voice in abstract artwork.
• The beginning stage is where to build many different first layers of richness.
• You can also return to the beginning stage or the previous stage if the work needs to go in a different direction.
• Trust your intuition and play before moving on to the next stage.

This painting journey has been so amazing because I have made some breakthroughs.

I can only wish the same for you on your journey.

Now it is time to take what I have learned and continue on my path of exploration and discovery.

Wishing you the best on your own painting journey!

Enjoy the process!

Sincerely,

Michele Holden