Having been quite busy with work, discord, Steemit and life in general, I haven't had as much time to make art in the last few weeks. In busy periods like this I find my creative juices get all pent up and I start to feel restless. For some reason when I get in these phases I always gravitate towards more abstract type art, I find it very relaxing and freeing to have no goal sometimes and to just let everything flow onto the canvas.
When I was younger (before I had taken a big interest in art) abstract perplexed me. I couldn't understand why anyone saw value in scribbles and splotches. I mean it looks like anyone can do it right? When I first decided I wanted to be an artist and I began dedicating myself to practice I made an effort to be literal. To try to draw things as they are. For some reason I thought capturing a resemblance to an object or person would give my art more legitimacy, and also it would be easier to track my progress.
While I still believe that technique and understanding how to render light/shadow and depth etc. are quite important I have come to the realization that those are just stepping stones on the journey and once those foundations are built there are endless branching paths that they open up.
Do I still try to work on my realism and depictions of the world around me?
Yes.
I'm far from perfect so I still find it challenging. I feel like it makes my mind work harder. It unlocks a more logical part of my brain. But I am seeing more and more the value and joy in the journey of creating art and that has led to me having a much better appreciation for other abstract artists.
I still have my preferences of course, after all art is highly subjective but I find myself being more and more satisfied looking at blobs, scratches and smears of color and allowing myself to get lost them.
I'd be curious to hear opinions of both abstract artists and those who love/hate it.
What do you like about it? What do you dislike? Is the creation process more important than the end result?
So many questions...
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
I offer you this art for your projects, posts, album covers or to build on and remix <3
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It's like a Rorschach blot got murdered. I like it. :)
Yeah it turned out kinda bloody :D
I always love abstract work.
you did an excellent job dear friend. You're a real artist!
Thank you I don't know if anyone qualifies as a real artist but I certainly get a lot of joy from it!
oooh i really love these.. little etches..
I like these! I do a lot of abstract art, especially when im having a block in my vision of what I want to create, and even when I have an idea, abstractness still shines in a lot of my pieces. Its the artists expression, it needs to come out, sometimes its not meant for anyone to understand, even the artist, and theres a beauty in that I feel, especially when the outcome is rewarding :-)
Yes abstract is definitely great when you have a block, I will admit I sometimes don't understand my own art on a logical level but it makes me feel something so that's all that matters.
For sure, sometimes there is just something in you that needs to come out, you dont need to understand it, but its out and it feels better!
This post makes me realize I could probably enjoy spending some fraction of my time with art on abstract work. Do you ever get ideas for non-abstract work or even stories by looking at your abstract art after finishing it? If so, what's your process like? It's also amazing how many faces/skulls and even a demon or other monster I can see in this, and how fitting that is for all the red used. :)
Yeah occasionally I start am abstract or just some free drawing painting with no plan and something pops out at me, sometimes a form/shape like looking at clouds. I work digitally so I often make many many layers then I hide and manipulate layers until it feels pleasing to me. Not much of a strict process just exploring :)
That's helpful. I do know what you mean by comparing the shapes to clouds. I look forward to trying this more often. :)
I took me time to understand and appreciate abstract art. But I think, once you do it, you see in it a more direct conexion with the fellings and emotions. A lot of the hate for it (in my opinion) comes from the comercial art market and people trying to sell ideas for tons of $ when they just looks like meaningless splatts. Most of people don´t understand it and just hate it for that.
Yeah that's a good point, I have been to the modern art museums here and it's funny but some of the pieces resonate and others not so much but I can't put my finger on why exactly. There were a few that were just a circle on a plain background type of thing and I think some people. Perceive that as taking the easy route to art and maybe think it is too low effort?
Yes, thinking they´re low effort might be a very big point for hatred, thinking "I can do that to, why does he or she deserve to be in an art gallery an not me". But I think the mayor point is that the context of the piece is usually missing. You don´t happen to see the mind, life, effort, struggle or evolution of the artist unleast you look for it or have studied it a bit. If you look some of the later Mondrian work, for example, you might like it or not, but you´ll probably see only color squares. Is when you look for his previous work, when you can see the evolution of his art and appreciate it more easily. And I´m not saying that studying the whole career of and artist is the only way to apprecciate it, what I´m saying is that you´ve to look for something that it´s probably not presented whithin the artwork itself, being the motivations, the struggles, or the mood of the artist in that time.
I just finished watching a very bloody movie, so your art reminds me of battle. When death is near and a person slips into the subconscious that battle between living and dying begins.
The good thing about abstract art is that it shows you that all people are different, because when we look at an abstract drawing we can see different things depending on the person who looks at it, and that's why I like it.
Yes it's very personal and can tell something about the artist and viewer i think
Oh, I love this one @juliakponsford. My first thought was toile on acid, I really feel your emotions in this one.
Didn't Picasso say he learned all the rules of art so he could break them, I think I am paraphrasing.
Oh I get behind in the important social media things, like discord. I am such a bad 'discorder' if that is the term. But between keeping up here (and I am always forgetting someone one day or the other) doing soal and bescouted and trying now to do some dada it is hard to keep it all together. My truouble is I always just turn back to the selfish drawing and paitning by myself, but if I'm not sharing or also chatting out there, then only Puss, the chickens and Monty have anything to say about it :)
I really like this abstraction though, I hope you do and share more.
Yes I think having a good technical foundation can give you a good control so when you want to go crazy you can do it with precision :) it is certainly hard to keep up with everything but I think if art is what you want to do first nothing wrong with that 😀
Chaotic backgrounds are always an inspiring place to start.
DEATH, BLOODY MESS, GUTS YEAH!
Next song title? If so feel free to use it as a cover 😀
Hah thanks i'll think about it :D
I see abstract art everywhere. In the patterns of worn and cracked tile. In the texture of leather. The grain of wood. I think it has something to do with certain levels of contrast, and certain measures of fractal complexity. The brain just responds to it, even though there's no easy formulation.
I read a story in Scientific American once where they looked at the fractal complexity of Jackson Pollack's work and compared it to photographs of a forest, and there was a mathematical match. So it might have something to do with what we're most comfortable with in our primate brains.
Wow that's interesting, who would think that we could be so in tune with nature without doing any calculations. I wonder if it had to do with the golden rule?
your the best
good I'm like your posting
muy buen post. un dibujo bastante interesante te felicito me gusto, muy original. saludos y ya quiero ve otro.
I love the details, I'm obsessed with details too!
You have been upvoted by a @slothicorn. Neigh neigh.
Hey @juliakponsford. It is me the bastard in discord. I do love making abstract painting too but this is amazing that I have expected from an abstract art especially made by you. Splendid!
I as well am not an abstract artist but find it relaxing from time to time. It looks like you used multiple tools and perhaps multiple mediums. How did you make the bubbles/circles. I especially like the first and last one which I would hang on my wall for sure.
I did 90% in the infinite painter app, it's made up of many layers, some are paint some are drawing/scratching, I played around with the intensities and manipulate each layer until I like it. The last step I usually throw it in an editing app to get a more precise control over color or increase contrast a little bit!
It is made up of many layers of paint and scratches and drawing all manipulated differently, I use the app infinite painter! It is mostly a process of exploration, thank you :)
Really enjoy this piece! Looks amazing and I know even though abstract art can look easy, it's an entirely different thing producing a final that looks easy to produce. The same with writing. If it's easy to read someone crafted it that way, didn't just magically capture it.
I think in terms of realism and being abstract, it does pay to thoroughly learn your craft before venturing deeper, which in my opinion relates to religion and writing as well.
I don't understand at all
yes, my favourite time at art college was the weeks spent "teaching" myself how to use oil paints. The fun I had smearing, dripping mixing and the rest, creating nothing in particular as a final outcome but a pile of A2 canvas covered in abstract marks. I feel like I got so much out of those sessions, completely different to what I got from life drawing but valuable nonetheless