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This is a brief article on developing an abstract painting. Sometimes I find it useful to work on a sketch first. This sketch can be brief, in fact it is better left brief. The intention of the sketch is to put down the essential concept in mind for the painting. The sketch of course will be small compared to the painting your are planning. Of course for drag paintings I rarely use a sketch but I will think through the proposed colors and I will write these down. It helps me to write down the colors for any painting I am proposing, as a general guide.
There are times when a painting begins and then as it develops starts to falter. Fortunately with oils you can come back the next day and begin again, making reparations where necessary. This week I began an abstract composition (not a drag painting) and though I was pleased with the upper half, the lower half did not convey my intentions. I had painted it reasonably close to the sketch but it was not translating unto the canvas. This sometimes happens. I studied it for quite some time but eventually elected to wipe out the bottom of the painting with paint thinner and a rag. I left the upper section intact. I will let it dry now and renew painting the bottom later. Will this detract from the initial energy of the painting, the initial force of it or will the finished piece appear as two different paintings? These are all possibilities.
The point is that we cannot always expect a painting to convey our original intentions. It could be that the initial design was not fully understood. It could also mean that the force of the concept was too weak and made expression difficult. It can also mean that the painting might be transitional and that the means of painting (the means of expression) are experiencing change. Abstract painting is like that. Trying to resist this can be futile. Change in style and expression is inevitable and we may start a painting quite unaware that a change in style is needed to convey the new impression. This is I think, what happened to this painting…I am needed to re-interpret how to say what I want to say. I would expect this transition dillemna is true for realists as well as the abstractionist. Part of the reason I write about the process is to understand my own psychology. By understanding the changes in my psychology, I can better translate these into the next painting. This one however surprised me. Fortunately I can re-think the painting and work on the lower half once I get my bearings again. It probably will be necessary to work on additional sketches.
Michael Wilson – Jan 2. 2015