The most formidable obstacle in starting an abstract painting is the feeling of uncertainty. Not knowing what really will develop, what will take shape and be manifested can be a true mental blockade. It is this un-knowing that lies at the heart of abstract painting, more than say pictorial scenes depicting something apprehendable. Here are several approaches that will help you overcome this.
Eventually in my own work I came to realize that it takes just a whiff of a feeling, a corner of the mind that becomes enlivened to sketch out a concept. In writing it is not that different. A faint idea is there, a faint image of what someone might do in a situation and from that small beginning authors write very elaborate pages. This is an example of the sub-conscious assuming a higher demand. A small intuition develops into a much broader expression. This is at the heart of true art which is transformative. Do not wait for a grand theme or even a composition. Perhaps no one discovered this more joyously than the landscape painter, Turner. His work became dynamically abstract. Simple scenes gave way to elaborate and expressive landscapes. It became for him a more full and honest way to reinterpret his world (our world). He was originally a remarkably skilled draftsman who drew magnificent buildings. All of that elaborate planning and detail work eventually gave way to a much freeer abstract expression. He lived long enough to have his work develop more into something that pre-dated the so-called father of abstract art, Kandinsky some eighty years.
I find his later, almost abstract landscape paintings to be inspiring. But my point is this, to allow for even small hints, small directions and purposes to get a painting started. It is usually impossible to know what our mental and spiritual and emotional purposes are. That would be akin to having one’s personal psychology fully understood before getting up in the morning. We can never fully know our psychology but we can be aware of the immediate moment. It is important to trust our feeling and to get started. Watch a child and see how they just get started without the endless ponderings. It is this awareness that can transform a small and not very well understood concept or image and bring it to canvas. As I said before, the important thing is to paint and to paint often. Don’t wait for some brilliant idea or grand theme. If there is any brilliance it will most likely be in the way it was painted – that is, all of the nuances of attentive brushwork. Be very conscious of your brush work.
Even very well known abstract painters will admit to the ‘accidental process’. From an often small sense or feeling or idea they will begin to work. Remarkable things will develop in the way of impressions. They often begin as accidents. Sometimes they are left in exactly as they occur. Sometimes an artist will decide to bend them or augment them or enhance them. This will work in your favor…you could call it the fifth dimension. There is this universal thread that seems to weave through art. It is almost impossible to be aware of it consciously but our sub-conscious can allow it to manifest. When you are painting try not to be distracted…but concentrate and be sensitive to what is developing. This process is certainly valid and even essential. Trust in it. This kind of trust will help to alleviate the fear in getting started. There will always be uncertainty. As the painting develops this uncertainty will eventually give way to a deeper appreciation for what is being expressed. Allow it to happen. This is the wonderful dynamic in creative art.