Putting the Figurative in my Abstract
I'm working on a large abstract piece for my Dad. The substrate is a square piece of birch plywood he was going to use for a project at his housebut, instead, asked me to paint something on it.
Abstracts are becoming a favorite way for me to paint. Merging that with my fascination with drawing and painting faces, and figurative abstract becomes a natural avenue for me to explore. I just wasn't too sure about a consistent way to create to silhouette-like shapes I so admired in other artists' work.
On Pinterest I came across this video from artist, Robert Burridge who has an extensive video library of tutorials on YouTube he calls, BobBlast(s).
This video was just the thing to help me step forward into creating simple, but expressive figures. He calls them "carrot" figures which, if you watch the video, is a funnily accurate description. I instantly wanted to share this with you all in case anyone was interested in creating carrot figures, too. This would be handy knowledge to have in creating many kinds of art!
After watching and a bit of practice I went back to the piece I was working on for Dad. I added a couple figures in acrylics and oil paint sticks. They were exactly what I felt the piece was missing! Y'all, I was so relieved...I had mental plans for what to do to cover them up should they go terribly wrong.
I know it's not finished, but I'm happy with the way it's progressing. This is what it looks like as of last night:
I really need to think of a title...