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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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| Structures 4 |
My goal in this painting was to create a point of interest in the upper left with bright yellow and to have that area supported by shades of yellow, green, and blue. I added the lines for definition and to create 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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| Structures 2 |
The concept I wanted to explore in this painting was the evolution of color, form, and line beginning with yellow in the upper left and quinacridone rose in the upper right. I wanted an area in the upper right quadrant to be the focal point and sketched in a few lines to guide the forms. As I added prussian blue and white to the mix and extended the red/lavender, these forms and transitions evolved.
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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 6 |
My goal in this painting was to experiment with blue and yellow as they combine to make green. I wanted to show a pattern of blocky shapes rising from the lower left and becoming more clearly defined and edged as it rose to the upper right.
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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 and Lines 8 9 2022 |
My goal in this study was to create balance, variety, proportion and movement with a set palette of primaries around the focal area in the lower right quadrant. The challenge was to balance the large yellow of the upper left with colors and shapes. I used the lines to tie the composition together and to give the colors form and structure.
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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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| 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.
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| Abstract #13 |
This is number 13 in the series of 4x4 abstract paintings using primarily primaries. My goal on this painting was to use only organic areas and ink lines to create interesting forms with mainly yellow and its interaction with the other primaries and secondaries.
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...
