Learning to Paint

4th February 2016

I now understand the notion of letting emotions create your work! After reading some basics on Best Abstract Painting techniques I decide to be brave and start using paint brushes! (normal house painting brushes by the way!) I tried their beginner method, of painting my favourite colour on multiple canvas, then adding a different colour onto each one, to see the effect it had on each other.

I straight away had this urge to put red on my canvas as i was fired up with my new passion, and I knew I wanted pink as I just love pink on red. But while painting, I was drawn to using black and white too to show opposites. When I was finished, I was really pleased with my “work” ( took me all of 15 minutes to do it!) And when I examined it, I realised how it was really an expression of my present feelings and also my personality!

Its about life in general and how I see it and feel. Sometimes my days seem black, sometimes much clearer, and unconsciously while painting, I subdued the black and added more white to show how I feel! With hindsight, I should have followed my impulse to add even more white to the black, but again I was governed by my rule that I started out wanting to have 2 opposite colours. During the process I was also afraid to do more than straight strokes in fear of doing something “wrong” which would spoil the painting. Then I remembered something I read at the crafts fair this week:

and just tried it! I’m so glad I did, but I realise I have to let myself go even more. Something not so easy for me as I don’t like losing control in general! So maybe painting will help me more than just satisfy my latest passion!

I now have the urge to paint a heart on a mixed media project I’ve been meaning to start..

3rd February 2016

So why do I want to learn to paint? It started with me trying to understand art and realising it didn’t have to be so complicated! I was at my children’s school library where I volunteer weekly, and I came upon books for children to explain certain art pieces. It was so interesting to learn small facts on why the painter drew a certain picture or how the picture expressed the overall theme, that I decide to go further and order art books to learn more!

“The History of European Art in 60 minutes or less” is a great concise and funny way to learn the basics, and I found it really useful to someone like me who knew nothing about art, let alone the history! I found out for example that modern art started from the late 1800 and painters like Monet and Van Gogh were part of that period! I was surprised, as their paintings didn’t seem so modern, like say Picasso or Warhol. But now I’ve started abstract painting, I can understand why they were put into that period!

Another great book thats easy to read and really fascinating is “1001 paintings you must see before you die”. Each page contains a famous painting and some explanations on why the artist drew it and what it expressed. “Art the whole story” is another good read if you want more than just a brief intro to art.

When I started physically exploring this new interest, I kept on hearing or reading; “its a way to express your imagination and feelings”, or “let your feelings guide you”… which seemed strange to me as I just wanted to reproduce something nice I saw on Pinterest! But for me to do that, I first had to understand how the paint reacted to a movement I made, and try and find a logical way to make it come out the way I saw it!

But those remarks got me thinking. Everything I’ve done until now is essentially just to reproduce something I’ve seen. From candles to crochet and even to cooking! Sometimes I made slight adjustments to a pattern or a recipe, but I must say that rules have guided me through those crafts. If I made too many stitches, the beanie was too big, if I didn’t leave the pastry to dry long enough, the macarons would not rise… emotions didn’t guide me through those activities. I didn’t add basil cause I was feeling blue or crochet a red scarf if I was fired up! Rather it was the activity that affected my mood. Crochet would calm me, scrapbooking made me nostalgic and cooking made me happy!

Painting, as I have discovered, does not come out the same way each time. Well not the type of painting I’m exploring anyway, which is abstract art. I was trying to reproduce something I saw again, and well, its impossible obviously!

So maybe I’ll try something new, and let emotions, not logic, take the lead. I’m not sure how its done or how to start. Do I just close my eyes and feel my way through, like my husband suggested? Do I play music to fit my mood and see where it takes me? Do I meditate first? Hmm maybe not a good start to letting my emotions guide me, by looking for a method to do it!!!

Anyway my first attempts using the “logic” method, produced these:

from this

I quite like them but nowhere close to what I was trying to achieve! By the way this abstract art form is from a method done by Cassandra Tondro. Check her out, she’s amazing!