Not every painting needs to be large and loud! I really needed to type that statement out on the keyboard so I can remind myself that simplicity can make a huge statement. Yet, painting something simple was a complex challenge!
I LOVE to paint on large canvases with bright bold colors. Using contrast is one of my favorite tools to grab the viewer's attention. Using large brushes, covering large amounts of canvas and painting with bold colors makes me feel like I have accomplished something. In a mother's world where no task is ever completed... where as soon as the laundry is finished and folded, I can find two more loads waiting at the bottom of laundry shoots! In a mother's world where the dishwasher runs to clean breakfast, lunch and dinner plates, while one little finger smudged and sugar coated glass stands proud on a coffee table. In a mother's world, where no task is difficult, but where (most) tasks are unending and monotonous, I seek challenges that work the creative side of my brain. Thus, the use of bold painting techniques makes me feel accomplished by producing results that are complete! Ahh! For a "type A" personality with control issue, I find that painting bold and loud allows me to feel noticed and valued.
So when I was challenged by a friend to create neutral abstract painting in grays, soft blues with a little bit of brown, I almost passed on the opportunity. I thought... Impossible! I remember having to purchase colors that did not exist in my bag. Finding soft creams, blue and grays was a task in which I engaged the help of a sister painter. For what seemed to be hours, we looked through the paint options to find these soft muted colors. It took me several canvases and several times where I used white gesso to restart my painting. One would think, how hard is it to paint something simple? Answer: Astonishingly hard... until you find the formula.
For me, the formula for abstract art is finding a strong composition. I chose to use one of the classics. For those artist and photographers, I used the "rule of thirds" which is a classic composition. This composition proposes that an image should be imagined as divided into
nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two
equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements
should be placed along these lines or their intersections.
This technique claims that aligning a subject with these
points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than
simply centering the subject. (Thanks wikipedia for the concise definition)
By using the "rule of thirds", I was hang the weight of my painting on these intersection points and composition lines. It allowed my eye to understand what was important in the painting. So then I able to play with my bold brush strokes while using the soft color palette chosen by my friend. Calm is one of the paintings in which I receive the most feedback. There is something that grabs the attention of the viewer and allows them to get lost in the piece. Although the piece is not loud in color, it does make a big statement. I am so grateful, that my friend challenged me to work through the challenge of a neutral color palette.
So in summary, something simple was a challenge! A challenge to push beyond my comfort zone, a challenge to understand what makes a painting work when you take away all the bright colors, a challenge to work on something that I might not have ever thought of doing. An opportunity to use inspiration from all around me.
