Hello
Welcome to the FLOAT-YOUR-PIGMENT Newsletter #158, Abstract
Last Sunday was the Dillman's Open House, and what a great turnout for the Memorial Day Weekend, Thank You! The Demonstration is pictured below. This coming weekend I will
also be demonstrating for Dillman's again on Saturday the 2nd of June, this time near Madison, Wisconsin at the River Arts Inc on 590 Water St., in
Prairie du Sac, WI. After my Demonstration at 4:00 pm I will also be doing a paint party at 6:30 pm that will run to 9 pm. All the info HERE. In 2 weeks I will also be back to Dillman's for my 4-day workshop, last minute sign-ups go HERE
Next week I am heading off to Le Mars, Iowa to do a 3-day workshop. They still have seats available if anybody is interested. SEE HERE
This week's newsletter goes just a little into abstracts. Yes to Class at the Civic Center Libertyville, Thursday, May 31st, 1 pm to 3:30 Yes to Class at the Antioch Fine Arts Foundation, Thursday, May 31st, 6:30 pm to 9 pm Yes to Class at the BeckerArt
Gallery in McHenry, Saturday, June 2nd 9 am to 11:30 am
A Reminder No Thursday Classes JUNE 7th and 14th
My 1 hour demonstration for the Dillman's open house. Last week in my weekly classes we were painting abstract landscapes and many of the students found out that painting an abstract is not as easy as many believed it to be.
At the American Academy of Art where I went to art school, abstracts seemed to be something they steered us away from. The school chose more of a traditional approach in
their teachings. As a student I followed the rules of the school and teachers, we didn't use black or white in our watercolors and we were to stay clear of abstracts and focused more on the traditional styles. As I grew as an artist and an instructor I have come to realize that abstract art and black and white watercolors are just as important in my art and teachings as any other art style or colors. Rules at a school and from a teacher are used to give direction in their learning process
and I believe that learning the fundamentals is good at first, but as you grow as an artist and you get better at your craft you need to break the rules and take your art and style to the level you so desire. Masters painters got to their levels and styles by first learning the rules and fundamentals and then many would evolve their styles and break away from the traditional and try something new and different and they did it by breaking the rules.
When you walk into a modern
art museum and you see a blank canvas or a canvas colored totally black, it is artwork like this that has given abstracts a bad taste in peoples mouth. Also, modern art like in the video below make people think that abstract art and installation art is a joke and I would have to agree that some art I see in museums is pretty funny and I will leave it at that.
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Learning to paint an abstract watercolor may seem really easy, especially if it is a
canvas just covered in black, but I am talking about abstracts that are more then that. I have seen abstracts that just blow my mind and there are now abstracts that have real objects in them, for instance, a tree in an abstract landscape. Try to keep an open mind when advancing your painting style, you never know what will give you inspiration and how it will affect your art.
Below I have taken one of my realistic paintings and broken it down into an abstract.
In an
abstract, you are working with design, color, shapes, values, and textures and you don't have a scene to help out your design or composition, making your creative process a bit more creative because it is all you creating.
My original photo taken in Bar Harbor, Maine. The painting I created from the original photo Here I broke down the large shapes of value to abstract the form of the photo Below I used Photoshop to see if I could use the shapes, design, form and color to create an interesting abstract.
It isn't watercolor and is totally created in the program Photoshop, but it gives you an idea of how our realistic photos have abstract shapes and design in them. I'm not saying this is a good abstract painting, I'm only showing you
that you can create anything from a traditional work of art all the way to an abstract and it is all up to you how you want to create.
Be creative, paint a lot and don't forget to every now and then, don't be afraid to break the rules.
My BeckerArt Workshops and Demos in 2018
DEMO & Paint Party, Dillman's Festival of Artists, Prairie du Sac, WI, June 2nd For Information Click
Here
Le Mars Arts Council Workshop, Le Mars, IA. June 5th -7th, For Information Click Here
Dillman's Spring Workshop, Wisconsin, June 10-15th, For information Click Here
Vermont Art Event Classes. Burlington VT, July 23rd -27th, Information to come
Dillman's Fall Workshop, Wisconsin, September 9-14th, For information Click
Here
Artisan Materials Expo Classes, Santa Fe, September 27th-30th, For Information Click Here
Perquimans Arts League, Hertford NC, October 15th and 16th, For Information Click Here
Jacksonville Watercolor Society Workshop, Jacksonville FL, October 24, 25, 26 For Information Click Here
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Bev Jozwiak is an artist I met last Sunday at the Dillman's Open House and I fell in love with her watercolors. One reason I love her work was she paints on a hot press surface very similar to the bristol board I work on and she
handles the paint with such control and paints so much beauty into her works.
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6 BeckerArt Brushes
Thanks to all of you that have sent me your great reviews on my brushes,
I am so happy you all like them!
I now have 2 sets of BeckerArt Brushes... they are the original set which includes the 1 1/4" flat, the #16 round and the #4 rigger. My NEW brush set includes the 1/2" flat, the 1/4" flat and the #8 round Click Here to Purchase BeckerArt Brushes |
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For any other info please email me at david@davidrbecker.com
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