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| Abstract 19 |
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| Boundaries |
My goal for this painting was to use the warmer side of the color wheel with blue through yellow only. This required that the blue and yellow would not be used where they could blend to green. I wanted the main focal area to be a light area on the lower left with secondary areas in the upper left and upper right. I added the lines to set "boundaries" between close colors and values and to provide suggestions of movement.
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| Object |
The idea I wanted to explore in this small work was the presence in a completely nonrepresentational painting of one, clearly defined object. Naturally the object would be the center of interest, but I wanted the other features of value, color, and line to create movement and interest within this context.
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| Cascade 1 |
My goal in executing this abstract was to create the sense of colors cascading from the upper left to the lower right on the painting. I wanted yellow to be the dominant color with accents of blue, green and red to give motion and contrast to the painting. I used white as the accent to brighten the focal areas and to move the viewer through the painting.
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Contrasts 1 |
The motivation of this abstract painting was to explore the use of underlying texture with contrasts in hue, value, intensity, temperature, and line. I am also tying an unusual focal area at the center top at the edge of the painting which intentionally breaks several rules of composition. I wanted to see if it would work - I think it does and creates a little tension as well.
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| Structures 1 |
In this painting, I wanted to work with the transitions between yellow through green to blue and do it in a way that looked like a progressing between structures. I wanted the vertical shapes with to suggest something solid but organic in form.
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| Patterns and Lines 22 07 10 |
This small abstract was built from the blue area on yellow which I wanted to be the focal area of the painting. The primary colors grew from the yellow and shapes grew somewhat organically from the blue.
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| Patterns 22 07 05 |
I did this small abstract with a goal of expressing a sense of calm and a feeling of contentment, but I also wanted to create a composition that held a strong focus and encouraged movement and a little tension. I limited my palette to yellow, blue, and purple, with a touch of phthalo green and white. I would like the viewers to create their own story in this painting.
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| Curtain Patterns |
My objective in this painting was to build around a focal area in the lower right with two bright pure colors - blue and yellow. I wanted then to build the composition from that with other primaries and combinations. Stroke by stroke the curtain of color evolved, and I added some ink lines to draw the composition together.
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| Patterns - 6/27/22 |
In this study, I experimented with using areas of contrast in color and value to create a pleasing composition that brought the attention and interest to my focal area. The format is small enough that I could experiment, and after a number of iterations, I found that amorphous forms with lines worked to create interest and bring focus.
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| Patterns 06 23 2022 |
My initial goal for this painting was to have a focal area in the lower left that as either light lavender or light green with purple and green on the sides coming together at the bottom. I worked on this idea, and though I liked the color, the result was not quite right. My wife suggested I turn it upside down, and it came together. Sometimes it's the simple things that help.
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| Pastel Abstract #1 |
After a month of doing small abstracts in gouache and ink, I felt ready to move up in size and into pastel. Pastel handles a little differently from gouache, so I had to accommodate some of those differences in order to get the result I was looking for. Design and composition principles still apply. What I wanted to achieve in this painting was a nearly equal division between two opposite colors - yellow and purple or blue and and orange while keeping the composition interesting and lively. I wanted the area of interest to be in the lower left and to let the evolution of color and value determine what that interest would be. Even more apparent to me in pastel is that every stroke determines the next within the context of achieving my goal.
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| Abstract #21 |
This is number 21 in a series of 20 because number 19 was a disaster.
My goal in this painting was to create interest and movement with warm colors and contrasting shapes and values. I chose blue to purple for the upper left and light yellow in the lower right blending into warmer orange and red moving upward and to the left. I had to add the touch of green to keep things honest.
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| Abstract #20 |
This is number 20 in a series of 20 small abstract paintings. My goal in this painting was to dominate the composition with lighter, cooler colors and values. My initial intention was to use the mauve form in the lower left as the focal point, but I darkened it's value in order to make the light yellow green of the center of the composition the primary focal area.
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| Abstract #18 |
Number 18 in a series of 20 - My goal when I started this painting was to use light and pure colors of yellow, green, and turquoise in broad, unblended organic shapes. I deliberately avoided straight lines and edges in the borders between colors and in the ink lines. I had planned to use more opaque gouache with white to build up the colors and make contrasts and values more intense, but the original transparent wash was so soft and delicate that I chose to stop here.
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| Abstract #17 |
When I started this series of abstract paintings in gouache, I had initially thrown my first painting aside. After taking another look I added some pen-work to the painting, and it came alive. So I had to renumber my series, and in doing so, I realized that the original #3, this painting, needed the same kind of revision. That allowed me to renumber the "old #3" as the "new #17."
The original concept here was to use blue and its complement orange to create composition around the colors yellow, red, and purple. The later addition of more lines and separation keeps the composition from becoming lost in its own complexity.
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| Abstract #1 |
This is the first painting I had done as a purely abstract painting. It was inspired by the work of Japanese artist, Hiroshi Matsumoto - check his Facebook page.
I was not really pleased with the result, but I liked it enough to continue. After doing 16 other paintings in the series of 20, I took another look at this original piece. The basic color was good, but it lacked definition and separation, so I added ink lines which made a huge difference!
I had initially set my goal to use primary colors in gouache, and I continued with that standard through the rest of the paintings.
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| Abstract #16 |
This is number 16 of 20 in this series or exercises in abstract painting. My goal was to use the warm corner of the color wheel for my primaries in this painting - red, cadmium yellow, a little quinacridone violet, and an old favorite, burnt sienna (which is not a primary, but....). I worked with smooth textures on the top and broken textures on the bottom. I placed the focal area in the center of the composition to see if it would work in a square format - I think it does.
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| Abstract #15 |
This is number 15 in the series of small, 4x4 abstract paintings. For this painting, my goal was to use just ultramarine blue, lemon yellow, and cadmium yellow and let the green develop from that combination. I started with blue in the upper left corner and yellow in the lower right. I set 3 white areas on the "horizon line" for architectural structure and let the painting grow organically.
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| Abstract #14 |
This is number 14 in my series with a goal of 20 abstract paintings using gouache and ink line. I set a challenge on this painting to use just 2 main colors, blue and yellow with their near complements purple and green. My goal was to create a composition that demonstrated the contrasts between value, color intensity, and hue to show which contrasts captured and held they eye best. In my opinion, value wins hands, down.
Morning in the Dunes Acrylic on canvas panel 8x10 Behind the beach at Talbot Island, the dunes march away one behind the other. No clear pa...
