Can't Be Unseen

Our mind is programed to try to make sense of things.

In this post I want to bring to your attention the potential damage in expressing what you think you see when it comes to an abstract piece of art.

I know I am guilty of it myself. I remember when I was a kid, we had a very interesting abstract painting with a lot of fabric fibers to create the textures and a lot of different colors. To me, it was like a trip to the jungle, I saw a tiger in there, lizards, dogs, cats, every time something different.. But it was all in my imagination, not what the piece was really about or intended to be.

Even not that long ago, I visited a gallery and saw a big piece, which to me looked like a very comical scene of a huge elephant running through a city scape in the night. The title of the painting was “Tyranny of the corner bowl set”, taking that into consideration, one might think it actually had nothing to do with elephants. Looking at that painter's other pieces, the elephant shape kept repeating itself, so it might have been about an elephant after all...

There is the element of a painting being text, and once the artist is done with it, it is an open text for everyone to read the way they want or can read it. So in a way it is out of control.

What I want to talk about, is somewhat different. From a personal point of view I'm not trying to abstract any narrative shapes, and when someone says to me about my piece “hey! There is a cat in there!” I can't not see it and it makes me want to erase it, paint it over, cover it up... make it disappear.

So I believe such things are better to be kept to yourself. In most cases I can easily not even pay any attention and give them the full freedom to see and imagine what they want... But in extreme cases it can be somewhat annoying and it will bug me till I do something about it.

I'm going to give a few examples from my own work that pretty much failed in that aspect.

One of the older ones.. The clown.

When I finished it, my mother said to me “I see a clown in there, look at that big red nose.. oh! And he is sticking out his tongue, what an amusing piece”... What was to me a very interesting use of different shapes in a composition, became a weird face of a clown, and I am not a big fan of clowns.

Deep Rift

Here I was my worst enemy, no one noticed or said anything about it so far... but, I looked at it and saw this yellow fish. I display the painting upside down from how it was originally made, so it won't jump out so much, but I am still very bothered by it. At this point I feel that it is beyond the option to repair since it has so many other areas in it that I love.

Consuming Fire

Sometimes in the early stages, things can still be fixed.

 So in one of the first layers I found him.. Can you see him? Well, I called him the cookie warrior... 

About 4 more layers later, I'm glad to say he is gone. 

So the next time you see something that might have not be intended to be there, think twice before pointing it out... In one of my classes we were forbidden from saying anything of that sort to our fellow students. The painting can mean anything you want to you, see what ever you want in it, but don't always point that out to the painter.

And if you are an abstract painter like me and wish to avoid those "obvious" objects being in your paintings, consult with someone with good imagination before your piece is complete.

Randomness!

Randomness was a very fun project that I began doing for myself, but after created the 3^rd complete image, I really wished them to become posters for sale... and would add a vibrant unique splash of color to any room.

Today I made that wish come true and they are now available on my Zazzle store!

They are set for 20x28” size, but the size can be changed.

I don't usually use this blog for self promotion, but I am really excited about this project and wanted to share.

I would really appreciate if you check them out and like them as much as I do!

Randomness on Zazzle

Different Tools

About a year ago I took one of the most fun classes ever, “Anything but the Brush”, taught by the amazing artist Jeanne Krabbendam. It was very innovative and offered a very stimulating problem solving approach when it comes to painting.

What I have learned became quite a big part of my own art practice and I decided to share some tips with you.

As the class title suggests, we had to create paintings using anything we want/can other than a brush. To get the full experience of this practice, I suggest trying to create narrative painting, aka not abstract. Abstract is very fun and yet quite easy, but it is the innovative thinking that comes from trying to figure out how to paint something representational that can be quite mind blowing.

Here are few examples of possible tools:

 

Brush – just to show how well known and somewhat boring it can be.

 

Hair comb – it creates ridges in paint. I get the simple ones and cut them into desirable sizes, very fun to create textures with.

Spray bottle – I personally love my paint to be very fluid, it's good to make light washes with or just create the flowing effect.

Sponge – I strongly suggest getting different types, after dipping them in paint, they will create different patterns as you press them onto your surface. Try working with it as it is almost dry, or very wet.

Foam Brush – Can be bought in many art stores, basically it is a sponge on a stick.

Spatula – A rubber goodness, can apply very thin layers of paint.

Straw – Blow with in onto the paint and see what you get, I like having different color paints side by side and use the straw to mix them, or quite fluid paint to create a splash like effect.

Chopstick – Or any kind of stick. I used it sometimes to make dots.

Fork – A lot like hair comb, but can also give some fun effect like the 4 dots.

Plastic Knife – Also a lot like hair comb but with smaller teeth, I like it on thick layers of paint.

Palette Knife – In my mind this is one of the ultimate painting tools, many artists paint using only them and I absolutely love the rough look that they creates. In my practice I use them mostly to create thin lines by holding them on the side.

There are many more things out there that I chose not to include, just so you can have the fun in discovering them! But most important, don't forget the best childhood tool of them all...... fingers!!

Enjoy!