HOW TO APPRECIATE ABSTRACT ART or 11 EASY STEPS TO UNDERSTING THIS ABSTRACT PAINTING

1. Take time to study the entire painting. One glance gives no insight. 2. Just as in reading let your eye travel from left to right.  3. Divide the painting into thirds and  4.Start in the upper left corner. 5. Slowly let your eyes move to the right . 6. When you get to the end of...

EMOTIONS

Every emotion imaginable plays out in art.  I believe I express multiple emotions in one painting.  I have cropped details from paintings to express a few of my daily emotions. This first one expresses gentleness. FEAR DESIRE!!!  Title of painting is "So Hard Not To Want" and let's face it, once you get what you...

ARE GIMMICKS NECESSARY TO SELL ART?

Recently, I watched two videos by visual artists that promoted nudity more than art. One video recorded a nude woman painting on the street in downtown London.  The other was a video of a male artist who uses his penis as his paint brush. I can't imagine what the chemicals are doing to his penis? I...

ABSTRACT MINIMALIST ANNE TRUITT

One of my favorite minimalist artists is Anne Truitt. She was considered a leader in the minimalist school of art.  I was fortunate to have her as one of my professors at UM. I loved her class.   Her way of teaching was to give insights along with exercises.  She was filled with words of...

FEATURE ARTIST OF THE WEEK MARK RAYMOND MASON

Eyes, Shattered Glass When I happened onto the website of Mark Raymond Mason, I was mesmerized by his abstract photography.  As my readers know, I adore abstract art and am especially drawn to black and white. Mark shoots black and white as well as color images. He writes: Since the beginning, I've always photographed temporary things, threatened...

FEATURE ARTIST OF THE WEEK, PHOTOGRAPHER KAY KOCHENDERFER – ZEN THROUGH THE LENS

Ms. Kochenderfer writes she is "fascinated with the concept of looking at the world in a different way through the lens of a camera.  Through the lens, I see joy and feel a sense of zen." Laguna Beach Kay and her husband live in LA and have travelled extensively throughout the world as well as...

EXPRESSING THE WISDOM OF THICH NHAT HANH

"Listen With Compassion to the Wounded Child Inside" Thich Nhat Hanh writes: In each of us, there is a young, suffering child. We have all had times of difficulty as children and many of us have experienced trauma. To protect and defend ourselves against future suffering, we often try to forget those painful times. Every...

FEATURE ARTIST OF THE WEEK: MICHELLE HOLD ABSTRACT ARTIST WITH A PASSION FOR ART

"Reemerge" "I have to paint reach inside risking to show you" I met Michelle on Twitter.  I fell in love with her art and when I visited her website I felt a kinship with the poetry she wrote under her paintings.  I have learned she does yoga and meditates and works to stay in what...

FEMALE CLOWNS ON CROSSES

14 years ago I painted a series of abstract female clowns. They had bald heads and their faces were white with large colored eyes and red lips. Several of the paintings showed women hanging from crosses. I no longer create art with messages.  But these women clowns did have a message.  They were about women...

DYNAMIC MONOCHROME METALLIC SURFCACES or NEW FORMS OF ABSTRACT PAINTINGS

Feature artist of the week, Eduardo Terranova creates gorgeous abstract minimal paintings in using precious metals. Alchemists have always sought to possess the power of the philosopher’s stone, believed to contain a magical substance that would transform base metals into their noble counterparts. Eduardo says: "I am interested in exploring non-traditional formats of alchemy because of...