ENJOY ABSTRACT ART

Madeline Denaro

Are you curious about abstract art in order to purchase a piece for your home, do you have a desire to learn abstract art, or are you bewildered by it altogether? Here are a few ways to increase your appreciation and understanding of how to view and enjoy abstract art.

Abstract Art is viewed differently than referential art. Often there is no obvious subject. Try these steps when viewing:

1. Stand quietly in front of an abstract art image. Relax your analytic thought processes as much as possible. Allow the image to affect you and be ready to “step in” a new experience, ie, the world of the artist.

2. Experience the energy of the painting. Let that feeling well up and connect with you in your body and heart. Be curious to explore the image with your senses and intuition.

3. Notice where the energy of the painting engages your own feelings, memories, moods, and thoughts. Notice if it arouses your own imagination.

4. Notice shapes and colors and their relationships and interactions. Notice the interplay between light and dark and the depth of the painting.

5. Notice how you are led around the image.

6. Notice patterns, rhythms, mood of the painting. Let curiosity be your guide.

7. Be enriched and nourished by the experience knowing that it was created by an artist who wants to share their world with you. You may be able to learn about the artist’s intentions, inspirations, cultural background, artist philosophy, etc. This will enhance your connection to the artist and the art.

You are not going to resonate with all abstract art and that is natural. But, in doing so, you will learn more about what you like and don’t like. Even that can give you an experience that may expand your ideas and world view.

Abstract Art can be a powerful way to release energy, be soothed and comforted or experience edginess, learn about own likes, dislikes and imagination and give you new ways to look at your life and the world.

Thanks for reading my Blog. I am a full time abstract painter and teacher. If you want to learn or augment your own practice of abstract art, check out my current Classes and Workshops or hire me as your mentori.

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WHAT DO ALL PAINTINGS HAVE IN COMMON?

Have you guessed it?

From the beginning of the history of painting, the one thing that is true: all paintings are made up of marks.

As humans, we start making marks as soon as we can hold a pencil or a paint brush. Generally, between the ages of 2 and 3, the marks children make in this way start to have meaning. They use them as a way to share their thoughts and feelings, giving new insights into their lives that they didn't have before.

Wow! Our mark making talents are developed right along with our ability to speak and make sentences to give meaning to our world.

That is exciting news! Mark making is natural to us and we all do it. Each mark is unique to the person making it in meaning and expression of it.

As artists, we become fascinated with mark making and making meaningful images with them. We fall in love with marks and spend our lives pursuing them.

Want to explore your own marks? Check out my Abstract Art Classes and workshops. I help people express their heart’s desires through their own intuitive mark making. You can find all about my classes at www.LivingYourWildCreativity.com.

THE LIFE OF AN ARTIST

Over and over, painting is about getting into the studio and working. It is repetitive in some ways but it never gets old and each day is a new day, full of possibilities, full of curiosity, full of the unknown.

I thought I would share this video, “Getting in the Studio” that I made to inspire ARTLab Members. Enjoy! And, if you are an artist, let me know your ways of staying motivated, excited, and ready to work.

Thank you…

for reading my Blog. I am happy you are here! Be sure to sign up for my newsletter if you are interested in my classes, workshops, and art shows.

Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song

I am a Leonard Cohen fan and have been for decades. I have 2 recent paintings titled Suzanne takes you down…..referring to one of his early well-loved songs about his muse.

What struck me about the documentary movie was how much I resonated with his artistic journey. Being a sensitive artist Leonard Cohen was often awkward socially and basically a quiet inward man. He seemed reluctant and uneasy when talking about his songwriting and meaning of the songs. I saw Leonard’s loss for words like so many artists because the act of creating is an intuitive process that defies words. It is a body and soul felt experience, flowing from a transcendent source that is undefinable and indescribable.

It seemed that Leonard tried to make sense of his songs and his uniquely personal expression as an after thought and in hind sight for the critics and his audiences. But, even then, it did not feel like he could express in words in a very clear way what it felt like or meant to tap into the essence of his own creativity.

I took comfort in the fact that he spent 6 yeas at a Buddhist monastery which helped quell his existential anxiety. I also understood it when he said that sometimes a good day is putting 2 words that he liken down on paper.

Leonard Cohen reaffirmed for me that as artists we create because we have to, it is consuming and difficult and we can never expect an outcome.

Suzanne Jacquot

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