Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Progression of an abstract painting.....


I thought I would post the progression of this very large painting (40" x 60"), the one I have been working on the most this week.  In this image you can see how it was begun with the first markings.  These were gestural drawings that were quickly laid in to the feel of the music I was listening to.  I then went with the first color that came to my mind, the yellow ........................ and next the greens.






The next day I picked up again, listening to the same music.  I decided to commit myself to a cool color palette and began working with blues in the negative space background.  I am also at this stage keeping in mind my values, ensuring that I have a light, medium and dark.  I was so enjoying the process and there were  so many beautiful things happening here that I could have stopped ..................... but not yet!  






My third day ... more decisions are needing to be made .... I think at this point I could have taken many different directions and had a nice painting, but I decided that I didn't want the spheres to be quite so dominant and wanted a contrast in colors with warmer tones.  All along I was wanting to maintain a soft impressionistic feel to the color.  THEN .... sometimes it is just time to take that risk .... and this is where I put a glove on, gooshed a mixture of yellows, reds and whites on to the canvas and painted first with my hands and then with a roller.  WOW, I'm really liking this and thinking it's done ... and signed it. But after a few days of hanging on the wall, I will see the final touches that are needed to bring this to completion.


.....so. I am now fine tuning "REGALE"


.....and the final image will be unveiled on my next post!!

Thanks for reading!....Elizabeth



7 comments:

Karenliz Henderson said...

Thank you so much for showing your progression. I love to see how an artist starts and finishes their paintings. It's a beautiful piece.

Elizabeth Chapman said...

You are welcome! Thank you for commenting.

Paula Campbell said...

Yes, thanks for this post! I especially enjoy seeing how an abstract painting comes about. Look forward to the final outcome.

LC N Fraser said...

Love that you put this up! I am trying to figure out how to do things and this is wonderful - thank you! Insight into creating beauty.

Donna said...

Wow Elizabeth! This is just beautiful. Thanks for showing the progression too!

Paula In Pinetop said...

Seeing the progression is really fun and sooooo helpful. Gives me the confidence to go on and not call it done too soon.

Thanks again

Elizabeth Chapman said...

Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments. I am so happy to hear that this has all been helpful. This is something that I have wanted to do before, but then have forgotten to take the pictures along the way. Happy painting!! elizabeth