Combining plant forms or representational elements in an abstract painting requires a balancing act where one element doesn’t dominate the composition.
In this demonstration, I’ll show you an effective technique to combine botanical forms with a beautiful abstract paint surface. You’ll see how to integrate various elements and combinations of marks and forms to create a successful strong abstract painting.
If I could tell you the ONE thing that improved my work the most - this is it. Working on a group of paintings together improves results because what you learn in one painting can be directly applied to others. In this video, I show you how I do this by using 5 paintings in mid-process to demonstrate how ideas can be applied to multiple works and how my paintings took big leaps forward as a result.
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.
This week I thought I'd lift the lid on my TOOLBOX!! I've rummaged around and taken out my top tools that I use when making my work and I share with you WHY I like to use them.
The interesting thing about 'favourite tools' is that people believe if they "...JUST had better quality brushes, or paint... or whatever SHE/HE uses... then my work would be better.... "
Well, for some things like paint, I think you get what you pay for... but what will REALLY make your work better is not really about tools - it's about the WAY you use them. I talk about this too...
Watch the vlog
Learn how to do Photo Transfers.
Materials used: Heavy Gel Medium onto Laserjet Photocopy on photocopying paper
Then Soft Gel Gloss to stick the Photo-skin to the painting surface.
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.
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 ….
Some paintings have given me learning that has freed me up completely, adjusted my thinking and changed the narrative that plays in my head. One in particular I will always be grateful for as it gave me an anchor that ever since has kept me secure and absolutely embedded in the knowledge that whatever I do in a painting it will all be for the good.
I will happily sell my work online to anyone who wants to buy, and I will happily ship my paintings off to galleries if they want to sell my work. I’ll even book another Art Fair next year. But I’m not going to do mental gymnastics trying to come up with new venues and ways of getting my work on other people’s walls in front of other people’s eyes. I don’t really care enough.
