Art by Rae: New Abstract

I've finally finished this painting!!!

This painting was definitely a process. It started way back in February actually when Michael took me to Asheville, NC for my birthday. I've always had somewhat of an affinity for this city. Aside from the memories (dancing in Friday night drum circles during my "hippie phase" in college), it's an artsy city with excellent restaurants and lots to do. We decided to visit the River Arts District to explore a few artist studios. Right next to the coffee shop where we got our afternoon lattes was an artist named Jonas Gerard.

Here is his website if you want to check him out: http://www.jonasgerard.com/

His painting are very colorful, vibrant, and active but the thing that really stood out to me was how in many of them he seemed to do a sort of wash with acrylic paint. I couldn't help but wonder what his process was. Did he mix the water and paint right on the canvas? Or did he mix water with his colors ahead of time? Did he have the canvas upright and let the water drip down the canvas? Or did he lay it on the ground Jackson Pollock style, pouring and dripping paint and water on the canvas, and moving the water around?

I needed to experiment.

Unfortunately I have a very small apartment with only a desk as my studio space (as opposed to his 5,000 square feet) so I knew I would have to do this outside. This meant I was waiting till summer... I don't feel very "inspired" in the cold.

It took me a few hours, a nasty sunburn, and several trips back inside for more water, but this was the end

result to my experimentation:

I liked it... but I didn't love it. I liked the wash parts - the areas on the right and left. I used a large paint brush, dumping water on the canvas, adding paint to certain areas, then dumping more water. It was pretty fun. Acrylic dries fast but I was able to move and tilt the canvas to move the color around and see what happened. I used a combination of moving the canvas, pouring water on the paint, and using my paintbrush to move the water.

The part I didn't like was the middle.

It was too much paint, not enough wash. The right and left of the painting were calm and flowing but this section just seemed angry.

I didn't know what to do with it yet so I put it away for a while and moved on. It wasn't until I posted it on my facebook page, asking for input, that wise words from my friend Rachael Shansky helped me figure out where I wanted to go next. She said it reminded her of a hot summer by the ocean and I thought, "yes." It does look like the ocean! How did I not see that before??? Either way, I knew that I wanted the whole thing to have a peaceful, flowing feel... like the ocean.

I didn't change the right and left canvas very much because they already had the feeling I wanted.