Abstract Workshop: Blues and Greens

The show I'm doing at the Simsbury Library is fast approaching so I've had to bang out more paintings.  Sure, I could do a mix of old paintings and new paintings, but I really like the look of one cohesive show, yanno.  Like, I don't want 3 animal collages, a fish watercolor, and 2 abstracts.  That would be bonkers!  

I'll be showing along a wall in the children's section, so a show with children's collages would probably go over pretty well.  But I'm into my abstracts right now, and if there's one thing I've learned about art, follow your inspiration.  If you want to paint abstracts but you feel obligated to paint a sheep, that's gonna be one cruddy looking sheep.

Plus, a no-pressure library show is a good way for me to start with this new style.  I'm thinking I'll leave a comment book and see what people say.  They probably won't say anything, but you never know.

Anyway, onto the art.

Lots of blues and green in this batch.  Clearly I'm drawn to these colors.  (The next painting needs to have some red in it or else I'll have only one painting with warm tones.  One of these things is not like the others....)

 

My goal for this painting, Unraveled (in Blue,) was to incorporate drips.

Unraveled (in Blue)        2012         j.c.phillipps

 I was inspired by a few paintings in my abstract book,

Painting Abstracts: Ideas, Projects and Techniques by Rolina van Vliet.

And, so far, this is the painting that is closest to what I envisioned when I started.  I'm quite pleased with it.  I like the soft, wet parts.  I like the hard, dark drips.  To me, it looks kinda like a misty urban setting with a unraveled rope in the foreground.  Thus, the title.

This painting, Tideway Spiral, was completely unplanned.

Tideway Spiral           2012          j.c. phillipps

This was the bottom part of a larger painting.  I was trying to do something completely different and then I just started to play around with spirals and I kinda loved the bottom part.  We can call it an "accidental abstract."  But not to a buyer.  To a buyer this was completely intentional and all my years as an artist helped me to perfectly balance the composition and have complete control over the wet technique.  Shhhhh.

Oval Abstract: Blue and Green is more controlled.

Oval Abstract: Blue and Green   2012  j.c. phillipps

I like it.  I don't love it.  It actually looks better in real life than it does on the screen.  It's too big to scan, you see.  The other two are smaller.  I can pop them in the scanner and really capture the textures and colors.  But when the art is bigger I have to take a photograph and then play with the contract and brightness on the computer.  Sometimes it makes the image look better, but I think this one kinda looks flat.  Still, I dig the groovy bubble discotheque feel of it.  It's like the inside of a lava lamp.  Damn, that's what I should have called it: Super Groovy Lava Lamp.

That'll be it's nickname.

In other news: it's another beautiful March day.  I have been working on the side garden and when it's up and running I'll share my handiwork.

I hope you have a lovely weekend!