1108 Playtime, 1109 Leftover Paint, 1110 Bad Day

It has been a long time since I've posted a painting, but I've been busy painting every day.  I am not able to post several paintings until Christmas because they are commissioned gifts, because someone somewhere will recognize the subjects.  

I've been fascinated with abstraction for many years and have tried it periodically without success, at least what I think of as success.  There is so much more to a successful abstract than just paint slapped on to a canvas.  The same basic principals of a good painting still apply.  Some may disagree with me, but that's my feeling and I'm sticking to it.  As an artist who paints what she sees, painting intuitively or from imagination is very difficult, but I am determined to improve.  I've made a complete mess of things in my studio, and have some things to post at a later date that I am happy with, at least enough to post.

I've posted the three paintings above not because I like them, but because they illustrate some of the many approaches one can take.  The first one, I'm okay with.  I did have a vision for a very large, now completed abstract, but first I had to play around with the tools and paints.  I made the rust pigment with instructions from artist/teacher Mary Mendla, which was a lot of fun and interesting.

The second more colorful painting style is all over the internet by a few artists, one in particular who has achieved great success using this "formula" which is drawing inspiration from beautiful gardens.  She is a California artist named Betty Franks.  It may look easy but it is not, I assure you.  Betty uses many, many tools and many, many layers of paint.  Her work have grown on me because they are so colorful and happy.

Intuitive painting is a fascinating subject I haven't fully studied, but am learning.  It makes sense to me if, once again, the basic principals are adhered to in the end, which I feel is almost intuitive in itself if you have those things embedded in your head.  This painting began as just a piece of heavy paper covered in beautiful pastel colors, but then something happened to make me very angry and I reached for the black paint and spread it angrily all over the paper.  My son applauded me, and I admit I did feel better, but I wouldn't say this is going to be in my repertoire in the future.

Tune in for more....

https://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/1108-playtime-1109-leftover-paint-1110-bad-day/959237