Even artists who confess no particular belief in God, cannot deny moments or periods of inspiration. Inspired art however continues to be decried by the critics as something to be downplayed. The opposite of de-bunking any kind of inspiration is not painting at all until a supernatural feeling or image is conjured.
Living near the California coast I often watch surfers. They will surf set after set of mediocre waves before catching anything good. They might be out there day after day waiting for a truly good wave. They know however that they must practice on the average to be ready for those which have excellent shape and length. When an experienced surfer catches and rides really good waves it is truly wonderful to see.
It seems to be an inspired moment but perhaps I am stretching the meaning to broadly.
Being inspired means experiencing something quite beyond our normal range of awareness. We see something we never quite saw before. We are able to follow a line of nature that had eluded us, a particular hue is mixed that was unattainable before, a look or feel is imparted to a painting that goes beyond a natural ability. In between these apparent bursts of insight are often long periods of mechanically working out a composition. We follow principals, work on balance, symmetry and contrast for effect. We are like the surfer catching all those mediocre waves while trying to perfect technique.
Inspired art translates into all phases of life. In business we come up with a solution we never imagined before. It just comes to us. It seems to have been inside us all the time, but from beyond us as well. We see inspired moments in sports, in music, in carpentry, in architecture, in the way a nurse treats a patient. There is a certain joy we experience. Because it is so illusive, it is a waste of time to seek after it. All that we can do is be about our task, pay attention, concentrate, be aware. It is the process that we must enjoy…the journey.
If God, a supernatural understanding, the Muse somehow pays us a visit and expands our experience, then all the better. Regardless, inspired art comes in remarkably small portions. If we are not paying attention it might elude us time after time. If we are not busy with our craft we will of course, never notice at all. It is my feeling that even the greats like Delacroix or Picasso or Rembrandt, out of the hundreds and hundreds of completed works, count to themselves but ten or twelve they hold especially dear.
Tag: the force of good abstract art
Abstract Art Definition (2)
Studying art literature and what artists have to say about their work will not yield masses of material. Artists historically have not written much about their process. Kandinsky is a notable exception though his small book, Concerning the Spiritual in Art is not an easy read. This may be due to the translation from German to English. He does talk about an artist’s need to express the ‘inner feeling.’ He attempts to discuss how color and compositional design can effect those inner feelings. It becomes apparent just how careful he was with color, even in apparently random paintings. His paintings could not be classified as random and he makes efforts to place art in a position where art is meant to lift us spiritually. He feels art should raise the consciousness of a civilization and in fact the ‘Arts’ in general are uniquely capable of this task. He calls it a noble task, a noble responsibility.
The departure from naturalistic forms into the abstract is considered a more direct line towards this responsibility. The constraint of fusing natural settings with inner feelings hampers this direct relationship. Abstract art is considered more responsive to an artists’ inner feelings. As I mentioned before in previous articles, Ekhart Tolle explains this expansion of consciousness more completely and more thoroughly. He explains how we can more fully appreciate our own inner consciousness. As an artist I have found this to be helpful.
Abstract art can be defined then as primarily a response to an inner feeling rather than to natural forms. Attenuation of forms can get in the way of a more spontaneous response to an interior drama. We immediately think of a Jackson Pollack whose work is completely free of any reference to natural forms. Gerhardt Richter uses the process of dragging paint and relies upon this as an accidental effort to create spontaneously. We might call it ‘controlled accidents’ because he is obviously carefully choosing where to place the colors to be dragged and which hues to implement. In any case Abstract art, by definition divorces itself from copying natural forms . This effort brings to bear new disciples such as a refined approach to color sympathies. Paradoxically rythmn and composition becomes even more valuable and more important to the concept of the painting. Kandinsky speaks of the harmony that needs to take place in an abstract painting and this must come from the jumble of inner feelings – that is, a certain order from the drama of our inner feelings.
Abstract Oil Paintings for Beginners
Are you new to oil painting in general or just to oil painting of abstracts? In either case you will want to have an understanding of what defines the Abstract genre. What defines Abstract and Non-Objective painting? If you can have a clear aim in sight, this will help you develop your work, right?
Kandinsky attempted to define what he was doing when he worked as a teacher at the Bauhaus. He wrote the small book titled, Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Considered the ‘Father’ of Abstract art it was apparently necessary for him to define his new directions. We read for example of his painting from an inner need and from an inner compulsion. This required a break from conventional known or recognizable forms. I think the book explains his position fairly well and his departure from object forms.
It is an interesting comparison in reading Ekhart Tolle’s book, The Power of Now. This book talks about the relative illusion of form. He describes a process of seeking a higher consciousness by recognizing form as being an illusion. He points out that true reality lies within and is quite separate from what we perceive as form. This seems to resonate with what Kandinsky wrote fifty years ago when he states the need to paint from an inner resource and to give that inner feeling expression. Tolle however is able to give us a more clear understanding of that inner dimension. His book is a valuable resource for an artist.
I was watching a Facebook video clip of a niece, just three at work on a painting. The painting was nearing completion and she was standing before it brush in hand. There were all kinds of swishes and circles and dashes of varying colors – a very exciting painting. She began to mix on her brush some reddish tones and then carefully reached up and put two deliberate swatches of red near the top but separate from each other. Why did she choose to do that? Why were they the final strokes to the painting? This process should be similar to our own means to create Abstract art. We should be studying the canvas and placing shapes and colors in response to an inner feeling. We should also be sensitive to the other colors and shapes on the canvas so that we create a symphony. As in a symphony all the various components work together to create an effect. 
Ultimately painting an abstract oil should be a joyful expression. We should not worry about ‘wasting’ paint. This should be our time to draw out our inner feelings and to express them with relative freedom unrestrained by the forms we see around us. This is what makes Abstract art, for me so special and so intriguing. The other advantage is that we have a more broad free range of colors to implement. As a painting develops we can creatively use colors that best suit the needs of the painting – we need not be bound by ‘what is before us’.
What is Abstract Art
For those who know their history Picasso, Braque and Gris led the way with cubism. Cubism
was considered one of the true breakthroughs in art. Those three artists however never really
pursued abstract art – that is, 
they always identified something tangible in the picture frame.
There was always some visual source, some connection to the physical world.
Kandinsky however made a very distinct departure from known, recognizable reality sources.
In the height of his career his paintings are highly dramatic with intense feeling but these
come from forms, patterns and colors never experienced before. Surprisingly the art world
at that time eventually embraced his new abstract work. Some critics go to great lengths
trying to explain and ‘read into’ his non-objective forms. Paintings such as his however
lie beyond any superficial explanation or ties to reality.
There is now a new genre in music, especially piano where the music is continuous and
experimental and spontaneous. It builds on its own notes and the musician say that these
notes and passages come from an inner feeling. Good abstract art is constructed in a similar
fashion. It begins often with a faint concept and then develops through sensitive, inner
responses. Abstract art comes from an inner consciousness and then is manifested through
paint, line and form. Remarkably we can respond to these kinds of paintings almost more
than we can to bucolic scenes of nature or Cityscapes. When abstract art is done well by
a seasoned artist we can very definitely understand the mood and force of the painting.