An artist asked me recently about color secrets in abstract painting and how I think about and work with color. Color is an enormous topic and one you can spend a lifetime exploring and never reach the end of it! In the beginning of my painting journey, I couldn’t wait to get into my studio and […]
How To Create Your Deepest Abstract Art
STUDIO INSPIRATION: THE IMPORTANCE OF “HOLDING ONTO YOURSELF” AS AN ARTIST One of our wonderful artists in Studio Journey, tells the story of creating wondrous paintings and yet being asked by another artist why she added scribbles to the painting. The implication being that the scribbles bothered the inquiring artist. Our fellow journeyer also recalls being asked by […]
The Importance Of Evolving As An Artist
Recently I was thinking about how we never stand still as artists. In my own work, I’ve traveled the territory of working in bold, chromatic colors for years to now predominantly neutral palettes. And yet, even as I begin to identify this pattern, I notice a slight stirring in my heart to revisit my old love of […]
Repairing A Tear In Your Abstract Painting: Part II
Easily Repair A Tear In Your Abstract Painting If you work vigorously on paper and tear your painting, have no fear! You can easily repair a rip or tear in your abstract painting. In a previous video I showed you how to patch the tear from behind. In this video, I show you how to […]
Repairing A Tear In Your Painting (Works On Paper)
Exploring On Inexpensive Paper Recently I decided to explore working on inexpensive paper to get a feel again for the experience. The paper I use here is Borden & Riley, 90 lbs. It comes in rolls of various sizes. I cut this piece to 42″ x 42″. This is the paper I’ve used in live […]
Expressing YOU In Your Abstract Art
Show Notes This interview with Canadian artist Vikki Drummond is in response to eleven questions I posed to over 7000 artists. I asked my audience which of the following eleven questions they’d most like to hear other artists response to. Question #2 is the one that received the most votes: What’s your #1 strategy for expressing […]
The Power of Curiosity & Inquiry in Abstract Art
And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so? I did. And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth. ~Raymond Carver (1938-1988), Late Fragment I love this commencement address by Dean James Ryan of Harvard Graduate School of Education. In this talk he explores the potency […]
Abstract Art: The Intersection Of Knowing & Not Knowing
Activating The Deep River Of Creativity in Your Abstract Art A wonderful artist in my online course wrote to tell me the story of a large canvas residing in her studio. She felt it had once been quite good, only a bit of the painting lacking something. She went into the work many times and quickly […]
Create Your Deepest, Most Authentic Abstract Art
As an artist the biggest challenge to me is to not repeat myself. The best work is still tomorrow’s work, not the past Hung Liu The art of activating the canvas and bringing your painting to life with your own personal lexicon of mark making, expressive gestures and brushwork is nothing short of miraculous. To […]
The Chrysalis & The Butterfly: Why “Ugly” Abstract Paintings Matter
I’ve been thinking about so called “ugly” paintings lately. I see artists in workshops and classes excited with the beginnings of their paintings…they love activating the canvas with stream of consciousness mark making or with intuitive gestural expressions/shapes/color fields… …only to struggle with the middle of their paintings. In particular, I see artists grappling with […]