my journey into abstract painting

My journey into abstract painting has become a wonderful past time for me and my daughter.  She loves to paint and I truly think that she inspired me to begin painting for myself.

All of the sudden I adore abstract art

I have recently discovered how much I love and adore abstract painting.  It is both fun and beautiful!!  Holding a paint brush and painting and mixing colors  has been incredibly liberating and therapeutic for me.  Although I love to homeschool, write, teach, sing — I have always wanted something tangible to call my own.  But I was too scared.  I am definitely not an art teacher’s dream.  Or so I thought.  I completely value the Classic artists, and my work here cannot be compared to the geniuses of yesterday and today, we particularly love Impressionist style painting, but there is a place for my art too.

There is also a place in this world for abstract painting.

If it makes you happy when you paint.  

If it makes you happy to see your finished creation.  

This is one area where your finished product doesn’t need to be judged based on anything but your own opinion and emotion.  And for me, I feel pride and happiness each time I look at my painting.  It is good and it means a lot to me.

The “how’s” for a (complete and total) amateur

I bought my canvas and acrylic paints from Michael’s.

I picked three colors that I wanted to work with: dark pink, turquoise, and yellow.  I don’t know why I chose these colors.  Although I normally gear towards pastels, I wanted my first painting to at least have some color, so I wanted to pick something bright!!

I painted in layers…..

I painted the entire canvas white before beginning — this was to ensure that no parts would be left with just canvas.

Next, I got my yellow and mixed three different versions using a dark brown and the white.  I began making small strokes up and down.  I realized that I really, really like to paint like this :)

My next layer was the red.  I knew what I wanted to create, so I set to work. It was too much red/pink, so the next layer covered most of it up.

I next painted the middle portion with turquoise.  It looked horrible, like a cactus, and I hated it.

So the next layer muted a lot of the turquoise with more white and bits of yellow.

I muted everything even more, adding a bit of red or turquoise here and there.  Finally I decided I loved it and wanted to put it in my kitchen.

It is a work of art to me and that is all that matters.  My children saw me love, work on, labor over, a piece of art.  I placed value on my art work and taught them the reward of continuing on and completing a project.  It taught them color, it taught them that mom can do more than cook and clean and teach.

This painting taught my children that they too can be artists.  

What have you created to teach your children that your work is valued just as much as theirs is?