Hey guys! Hope you’ve had an awesome week and are getting ready for some delicious foods and fun family times! This past week, or weeks to be exact as it has lasted for a little more, I’ve also had to do a little bit of exploration in terms of my painting. In my painting class we had to dive in to abstract and nonrepresentational art. (They’re just been throwing me into challenges this semester which I always welcome!) As an illustrator major, I’m always thinking more into representational, as in “How can I represent this idea or concept I’ve been given?”

When jumping into this new territory, I have been thinking about taking the way I know how to do things, and working from ideas I knew and am comfortable with, then playing around with them in all sorts of new ways.

Close up of left painting, a mixture of blues, greens and dark yellows

Firstly I decided to take inspiration from impressionist artists, as their bright and lively colors are the ones that always put me in the mood to make some art. I also decided to work on two canvases at once, something I’d never done before either. I wanted to make them one unit, while still keeping the movement of the colors flowing.

Close up of the right painting, no blues, but bright yellows to create a brighter side

I then decided to instead of trying to abstract an already existing thing, I chose to represent an abstract idea. I plugged my earbuds on while working, and have been listening to digital and electronic music, looking for inspiration. My idea came from trying to represent the internet, or WiFi itself. Thinking about that is how I came up with my color palette. The idea that the internet flows all around us though we can’t see it, processing data and whirling between computers and phones drew me to the wave design too.

Two paintings combined to create a wave

On top of that, I also had fun playing with the dark and light sides. On the left side I painted a dark blue base, while on the right I didn’t. Then the greens and yellows were dispersed between the two. It was a lot of fun to realize that though the colors were the same, they look different on different bases.The painting became a fun color exercise on top of something I actually ended up really liking.

Over all, I definitely suggest that anyone reading this go and try to break out of their shell in art. If you do abstract, paint something representational, or vice versa. It really can help bring out some things you didn’t know you could do! Feel free to show me some of your abstract work, I’d love to see it! And until next week, keep on creating!