K is for Kandinsky

Inspired by Kandinsky  Tempered Elan 1944

One of the very best parts of my life as an artist is the classes I take. I have often raved about my wonderful teacher, Illa Guttman, and her outstanding Dynamic Abstracts classes, all rooted in art history. Each class is an opportunity to be introduced to another abstract artist, analyze his or her work, and take inspiration from the artist to create our own work.

I tend to fall in love a lot in these classes, meeting old favorites and discovering new ones. But it was Moscow born Vassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) who stole my heart. His use of color, his imaginative shapes, his vivid use of line, the way he works within a flat plane, and so much more, all  resonate with my own Russian roots.

This painting (18x24 acrylic on canvas) was done in class, inspired by a work called Tempered Elan. The flowing shape reminds me of the gorgeous Russian embroidery I so admire, and the little bird shape recalls a Matryoshka (those brightly colored nesting dolls) for me. The colors and the pattern are my own, but the freedom to paint this free flowing shape is pure Kandinsky.

To learn more about this artist, and see images of his work, visit this site Kandinsky 

On Painting in Series

In the Red Room Variation 2

Having now completed four paintings in this series, and working on the design for number five, a whole new set of problems begins to arise. How do I continue in a theme, using several "givens" yet create variety and maintain interest (my own and the viewers)?

On the list of things to do to work in series is ANALYSIS. As I work on this project I keep coming back to the need to analyze everything I am doing. I need to carefully analyze the botanical shapes of real flowers in order to work toward abstraction. I need to analyze the images that actually take shape my canvas for line quality, color, texture, feeling and style, and, because this is a series, visual consistency.  Very challenging. Very interesting.


The deeper I go in the series, the more important it becomes to plan ahead. I sketch frequently and try lots of variations before I move to the canvas. However, in spite of the careful planning, I am reminded constantly that paint does not behave like a pen, so the results are not necessarily what I start out to create. So, now I am learning to add more detail and pay more attention to the sketches I prepare and analyze all the things I want to accomplish in the piece: the shapes - are they big enough to paint as separate entities? Are they distinct from each other? Does it matter? The colors - I am working on a red background and limiting my palette so that I use the same paints in all the paintings. So, How do the colors play off the background? How do they work together?  Also, (and one of the best parts of the process) is discovering how the mixes from the limited palette create fabulous and harmonious results.

The big picture:  With now four pieces in the series, I need to compare how the shapes and colors and composition of each new piece works with the existing paintings as part of a whole. I also find that as I complete a new piece, I want to go back to the earlier piece to improve it with something new I have just learned. Variation 2 - above is still in process, but I now know what I need to do to complete it - that's progress.

So, to answer a question asked on this blog, has the process helped to narrow my focus? Absolutely, I know where I want to go, I feel more and more comfortable doing this work, because each repetition provides practice, skill building and a better understanding of how to put a painting together. But also, not at all, because the more I paint, the more I experiment, the more I analyze what I want to do, the broader my imaginings become - I keep seeing over the horizon to what's next ... we will see.

Variations on a Theme

In the Red Room, Variation One

I am now in a new painting class, Painting in Series. This feels like a personal gift - just what I need. As I wrote several times in the past, I have been struggling with finding a voice and a direction. This class specifically addresses these issues. My assignment is to create at least five paintings on a theme, repeat some elements, and explore where this process takes me.  

When I knew I would be taking this class I began to think about what I wanted to paint, and think and think. Outside my window, flowers are blooming in a riot of colors and shapes. In my sketchbooks, I find dozens of random drawings of flowers, my photography features flowers and plants from every place I have ever visited, and from the gorgeous gardens of my green-thumbed neighbors. The paintings I have done that seem to get the most positive attention are of flowers - was this my theme? And how about abstraction?

In our first class, Illa Guttman (teacher extraordinaire) provided at set of criteria to follow when determining a theme. The list included this statement, "when working in series, Paint what you like best because ... one needs a strong emotional attachment to the subject matter.  ...  It's really great if the subject continuously feeds your emotions and makes you feel good. Plus you never get bored with a subject if you always paint what you like best." I guess that was my answer - I am never bored with flowers. So, how to begin.

First, find a title. Then, the list says to "find an obsession." I did, day and night, pencil in hand or staring at the clouds. I considered how to simplify flower shapes. I drew the flowers I saw, seeking geometric shapes that would allow me to simplify the images. Then I began to play with shapes alone to build them into flowers, nextI tried putting them together in different ways. One other criteria I kept in mind was the size and shape of the paintings I was going to create. And always, I was thinking about color. Finally, several decisions made, and an open mind to what might appear on the canvas, I began to paint - combining all these ideas, and listening to the small voice in my head that keeps repeating "red walls." 

So, my series is called Variations on a Theme: In the Red Room. This is the first of three paintings I have completed. Is it 16"x20" on canvas in acrylics. More to come .... 

A Good Time was had by All

Two paintings

This last series of Dynamic Abstract classes was the most fun of all so far. I loved the chance to really explore the work of several artists - some old favorites, some new to me. I am seeing even familiar works with new eyes as I learn more about abstraction. I especially enjoyed the strong color palette that was part of each week's assignment.

I think another reason I enjoyed this class so much is that I am finally I am beginning to move through my "idiot child" phase into a place of greater confidence - or maybe it is just that I am giving myself permission to just learn and accept the work, good, bad, ugly or beautiful, as it comes. And, to recognize the pure pleasure that comes simply from the act of putting color and line on canvas.

One thing is for sure though, painting (like my other vocation, writing) can be somewhat isolating. So, the chance to meet and work with other artists in my classes adds not only pleasure and fun, but yet another teacher to learn from, another set of eyes to critique - and this class was particularly rich in  inspiring others.

Most of all, the chance to work with Illa Guttman is a privilege - and a pleasure. Thanks Illa for a especially fun class. See you all next week.

In name only

Name Game

I have been very busy lately. My weeks seem to fly by -  filled with planning and teaching and taking art classes.

My Saturdays have been fabulously filled by a painting class, Dynamic Abstracts with Illa Guttman at PCC. This class is six hours of feeling like a fool followed by the elation of actually creating a painting. Some weeks are better than others - and it is wonderful to be part of a group, and especially, to have such a wonderful teacher.

I am also planning to teach an abstract painting class for kids next week, Spring Break. I am ready - bursting with ideas to share and things to do. I find myself poring over books of paintings in the library and visiting galleries - just looking at how abstract artists work, thinking about ways to express what I want my students to know. All of this causes me to think of about lines and color and shapes in different ways, and to experiment with varied projects to see what results.

I will be teaching my students to create abstract images with tempera, and I use acrylic in my PCC class, and frequently in my own studio, yet, I often find myself returning to these line drawings. They are fun to do, relaxing, more accessible than paint and far neater, and they are a different way for me to explore flow, color, overlap, shapes and ... some kind of grace - maybe the unexpectedness of finding shapes and forms I do not plan - which somehow feels to me like the very heart of abstract expression.

This image is based on a painting project I did earlier this year - the lines are my name, written in different sizes and directions, always crossing, forming new shapes. It is 9x12 on watercolor paper, done with fine tip pens.

M is for Many Colors

So, what did I learn in school yesterday?

I am privileged to be studying Dynamic Abstract Painting with Illa Guttman at PCC this term. I have repeatedly referred to something I have learned from her in this blog - but yesterday's class was particularly enthralling.

The subject was Color Field painting "with its emphasis on stain painting and visual gorgeousness."

In class, we explored the often HUGE works of Helen Frankenthaler and Mark Rothko, among others.

Often in museums, when standing in front of a work of art that looks like nothing more than a line on a field of color, I think, I could do that. This kind of work looks easy - but ...  Ha ha ha ... not so fast.

Yesterday was a chance to try. I began by finding a photo (a sea scene) with vivid colors that laid out in lines.) On  a canvas 2'x3', and following the guidance of my teacher, I laid down a strong underlayer of a dark violet. Then, using painters tape, I laid out a pattern of stripes and began to paint, changing, mixing and layering colors - and seeing the effects of the color that lay beneath.

I was lucky to have 4 hours to work - because I needed time for layers to dry, and to watch how one stripe of color affected the next (and to remove and replace tape.) In the end, the simple stripes were too flat for me so I added the other lines. I am not sure if this works, but I know that I learned a tremendous amount, and already have several ideas for ways to use what I have learned in some new work.