abstractsix

We seem to have slowly drifted into chaos here, so it's probably a good time to wrap abstracts up for a while. I tend to like paintings that are interesting close up and with all the layers peeping out of this painting it has a lot more interest close up than from a distance. Ideally it should be interesting from every distance, but oh well.

24x30" 60x75cm acrylic on hardboard

Abstractfive (revised again)

This is, I hope, the final revision. Basically I painted it over using the same technique as I did the first time, more or less. Something like this might well work out better if I was more precise and careful, but fat chance of that...


24x36" 60x90cm acrylic on hardboard

abstractfive revised

Those dark dividing lines did not sit well with me, too litteral, which is to say they looked like sort of realistic frames and out of character with the work. Everything else pretty much stayed the same, any differences are most likely just differences in photography.

24x36" 60x90cm acrylic on hardboard

abstractfive

When you're producing art commercially, that is to say, to sell, if you find something that actually does sell, it makes sense to produce variations of that piece. I'm not producing art commercially, so I have no incentive to make similar variations of any piece, and so it gets harder and harder to produce these abstracts without repeating myself too much and boring me. This is a 2x3' piece, which I probably will not be doing again, I may settle on 24x30' instead, since I'll also get a 18x24' out of the hardboard sheet as well which I can find more uses for than an 12x24' piece.  I'm also edging back to more chaotic stuff here, with only the lines giving any structure to this piece. Will have to do some thinking before I start something new...

24x36" 60x90cm acrylic on hardboard

abstractfour

At 2x3 feet this is twice as large as I usually paint. I really don't like painting this large simply because I don't have that much to say. Simply blowing up something small to something large means that it is not very interesting close up. We'll have to see if I'm up to doing a big one again... I do think abstracts look best as bigger pieces...

24x36" 60x90cm acrylic on hardboard

abstractthree

The first couple where easy; never having done something like this, I had nothing to compare them to and everything was new. Now it gets a little harder: I have to consider if I've done this before and better... The good thing is that I don't "get" them, so I don't know if they're good or not. I just have to decide how long can I keep on playing with them before I wreck it and have to start over. I only started over once on this one.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

abstracttwo

The thing about these abstracts is that you can just play around with them to your heart's content because there is not real obvious end point that says "done". At least to me. I just guess. This piece is on a canvas panel I had laying around from years ago. I prefer a plain board. I think abstracts should be large and this one is larger than my usual 18x24" board. I can paint up to 24x48" boards, but until I know what I want to do and how, I think I will keep them modest.

22x30" 56x75cm acrylic on canvas panel

abstractone

People like order, and years ago I notice when I was paying attention to art sales on ebay that even people looking for abstracts preferred them ordered, geometrical rather than chaotic or organic. While I have done several abstract paintings before, this may be the first where there is no underlaying concrete thing that's being presented abstractly. What you see is what there is, and that's all there is. This is just playing around with putting paint, and clear acrylic medium on in layers and scrapping it off to get texture and a multilayered look.  I will have to work on perfecting just what I want to do and the best way to do it. I do think I'll have to add the final glossy layer after I take my picture, since I got so much reflection with the glossy overcoat.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Along the Loch Road (Once more)

As promised, I've played around with the trees in the middle distance. I see I'm going to have to touch up the blotchy patch in the middle of the near slope a little, but I'll not post that change, as it should, hopefully be minor, otherwise, this should be it.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Along the Loch Road Yet Again

You'd think I really must like this painting for as much time as I've spent tinkering with it. But you'd be wrong. I'm just trying to get it right, more or less hoping that I might stumble upon something that will make me like it a whole lot more than I do. I also could have just swapped photos in the last entry, but since this is turning into a saga, I decided to give this morning's alterations a entry of it's own. I should probably make those trees in the foreground look like trees....

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Along the Loch Road Revised Again

Well, instead of painting over it, I revised it a bit: making the trees and the water a bit more defined (I hope).

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Along the Loch Road Revised

I meant to paint over this picture, but I couldn't think of anything I wanted to paint, so instead I painted it yet again. We'll see if I like this one enough to keep this version.

18x24" 45x60 cm acrylic on hardboard