Why Abstract?

"Purple and Turquoise #20"
6 x 6" pastel on Gessobord painted pink and coated with pastel ground
Day 20 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge
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A few folks have asked me "what are you into now and what are these?"

I've painted mostly fruits and vegetables for the best part of 5 years. After that length of time you lose your sense of creativity and love of experimentation. It becomes more like manufacturing than a creative pursuit.

The concept of an abstract used to leave me cold. There are some fabulous abstract artists and there are some who just throw paint at a canvas with no thought to value, edges, line, color, texture. I wanted to learn what thought processes go into creating a good abstract.

For the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge I decided I would have a theme. (I think the first couple of days were more of my fruits, but they were pastels. It was about day 4 before I settled on abstracts.) 

As for what I am creating, they are not meant to BE anything more than a color study, but they more often than not begin to look like florals. It's a way to explore color, composition, marks and surfaces. 

I do plan on going back to my oil painting at some point and, yes, the fruits and vegetables. This has been a way to refill my well of creativity and create some excitement for myself. I never want to "paint myself into a corner" to the point I can't allow myself to grow as an artist.

So if these experiments aren't your taste, I totally understand. I didn't get it either, but I've learned so much they do have an importance to me.

Thanks for checking in!