T is for Try an Abstract

 

Abstracts are something I have never felt drawn to and I certainly never imagined that I would try my hand on one much less four of them - but here I am today with four little abstracts. How did that happen?

While doing the Taster Lessons for Life Book 2022 I came upon Laly Mille whose pieces of art immediately spoke to me. Just shortly after the Taster Lessons she offered a free workshop "Abstract Color Challenge" which was open for just a week. We were asked to choose a color that we don't work with very often. It shouldn't be an intimidating color, but it should be challenging.

I chose green. Laly Mille likes to work in series and inspired us to do the same. So I cut my watercolor paper in four squares of 5 x 5 inches. Next I didn't find my masking tape and therefore had to use some washi tape to adhere my paper to a board - it did the job but was a bit distracting, especially since one of the washi tapes was green...

Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing. I was adhering collage papers to my substrate with no rhyme or reason, hoping that eventually something would evolve. Then I put paint to it, green paint of course. I did not take any progress photos except the following one:

It just looks too green to me! 

Good thing there is gesso - I used it a lot to tone things down a bit. Slowly I could see where I was going.

This first one is my least favorite one. I noticed the word "story telling" and circled it with a black pencil. Otherwise I didn't really know what to do with this square - I made patterns with colored pencils and oil pastels and stamped it. I declared it finished simply because I didn't know what else to do and I didn't like it.

The second one was easier. I had found the picture of the sculpted head in a magazine and knew that I would like to use it on one of the four squares. A stamp in the background before adhering the picture and I was done with this one.

The third one is the only one that has an additional color - purple, a color that I don't use that often either. The same stamp in the background and some oil pastels before I glued down the picture of the Lauren's Grape poppies from a seed package. The seed company Renee's Garden uses these beautiful painted flowers on their seed packages and I always keep them. Yes, I bought these seeds just because of the packaging, but also because I love poppies and they made a beautiful appearance in my garden several years ago.

And now my favorite one. I only added the same background stamp and then adhered the photo. It's from a Gudrun Sjõdén catalogue, my favorite clothing company - their catalogues are filled with stunning photography. As a final touch I painted around the picture with a copper oil pastel and called it done.

Since this is a T post we need a drink. Mine is just water in this bottle my daughter gave me. During three of her four years at UC Davis she worked with Student Housing, a job she loved. A nice little benefit was that the students were able to get these bottles - they hold cold drinks cold and hot drinks really hot for a long time. Thank you, Elizabeth, for hosting again this week!