| How do you portray an abstract idea, thought, or plan in a 2-dimensional painting or drawing? Frances quoted David Hockney: “All painting, no matter what you are painting, is abstract in that it's got to be organised.” |  |
Frances had brought many books to demonstrate her thoughts on her subject. She first showed us some famous, realistic paintings, pointing out the way the artist had organised his work for greatest effect; she drew our attention especially to strong vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines, to extremes of light and shade, and to the careful use of colours, the same considerations you might apply to an abstract work.
 | We then looked at more modern works, from Bridget Riley's intertwining circles to Mondrian's rectangular black framing, also some interesting Japanese works by Horoshige. See examples, left. Our first short exercise was to draw interlocking circles and add colour to them. The second exercise was to use rectangular shapes with considered use of colour. See below. |
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In our longer task the idea was not to draw the three objects we were asked to bring along, but to observe interesting shapes or patterns in them in order to make an abstract picture. Some of us were rather less successful at this than others! However, it gave us all food for thought which would apply whatever your style of work. We appreciated all the thought and effort Frances put into the preparation for her morning session. Many thanks,, Frances!
 |  Here are more quotes from Hockney: " ... art is about sharing: you wouldn't be an artist if you didn't want to share an experience, a thought" and "Anything simple always interests me." |
Next week, if you have signed up for it, we have a workshop on pastels with Laina West - all day, so remember to bring some lunch.
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