What to focus on when finishing your Abstract Painting
How do you know when your abstract painting is finished? In this video, I take you through the process with one of my paintings, showing you what I didn’t like about it and how I fixed it and finished the work. I talk about what I focus on and what questions I ask the painting in order to gain clarity around what steps to take next.
1. Make a big move to disrupt the work and make a big change
2. Rotate the work so you see it differently
3. Ask: What have I got?
4. Look for repetition and ask: Do I need this? Have I already got this somewhere else?
5. Is my eye led around the composition?
When you have worked through these questions, and you’re happy with the work, stand back and walk away. Look at it again after a few days to see if you still feel the same.
Acrylic Ink in Abstract Mixedmedia Painting
In this video I explain how to overcome a common problem artists have when they fall out of love with their paintings. This can happen when our style evolves and we grow in our artistic preferences. But what do we do with the older paintings that are still lingering and no longer reflect our new aesthetic?
I discovered a new technique by using Acrylic Ink to loosen the surface of the painting and freed me up to finish the painting again, this time in my new looser style. There were still aspects of the original paintings that I loved and I was able to integrate these with my new style and create a finished painting that I am much happier with.
In the newly finished paintings I used drawing with oil stick as well as flooding the surface of the painting with Acrylic Ink and water. I used these techniques to provide variety in both wet and dry media which enriches the surface and offers the viewer a broader range of experience when viewing the paintings. I was trying to move into a looser style of expression so I needed to soften edges and lose more control of the paint, ink and drawing tools.
I encourage you not to Gesso over older paintings and lose all your beautiful painting. There will be parts that can be integrated with your new style while still maintaining your authenticity. Decide what new media you can bring to the work and without a backward glance forge ahead to bring your work up to date with your growing artistic style.
How To Start By Playing With Paint and End With A Finished Painting You Love
It’s exciting to start a painting but do you have trouble finishing it? In this video I show you how to start by just playing with media and then a great tip to quickly add interest and intriguing, surprising elements into your work. Then I take you through how to clarify your composition and create a strong finished artwork.
How I Developed An Idea From A Finished Painting Into New Art
How To Use Glazing In Your Painting
Finding Clarity and Finishing
Permission To Paint
From Start to Finish - in a nutshell
Painting with Total Abandon
The journey from difficulty and confusion to clarity and joy. That’s the path we are all on with our Art. We are all at different stages of that path – some at the beginning bogged down among the weeds, and others further along emerging into openness where the path widens and the walking is more easy. We can kind of see the way forward – a bit.
Perspective
Questions to ask...
New Beginnings...
I also really enjoyed letting loose with drawing and using dry media a lot more in my paintings when I was working on the large sized paintings. This added a playful looseness which I really liked and prevented me working in a straight-line towards finishing when after each painting session I would draw and scribble over the painting. Coming back into it the next day I would cover a lot of the drawing over but the little remnants that peeped through were really fun suggesting a naivety which I liked.
Finishing a Painting II
Is there ‘Precious’ in your Studio?
Finally, the insistent call of the outside world drags us away and we close the studio door on that tangled grid-locked mess of paint, hope, and self-belief. As we square up to the dishwasher and the dusting that secret smile is now a nagging sense of dread. Am I good enough? Why can’t I figure this out? I’ve killed my precious ….
Finishing a Painting
Learning to make Art without Fear
Sealing & Varnishing
My Why - Why do I paint and Why do I teach?
When I was growing up there was no such thing as a ‘why’. Well, we didn’t know we all had one or at least there was no drive to examine our motives and find out. I remember doing quite a lot of motive examination directed by the nuns – but I always fell short and found myself counting down to the next confessional to cleanse my soul.
