5 Reasons I Love Painting Abstract Landscapes
Southern landscapes are inspiring because they are rich with texture and brushwork which are key to abstracting the landscape. I am inspired by creating a subject stroke by stroke building the paint, blurring the lines so that the form arises from the abstract. The abstract landscape develops as I brush on the paint only to scrape portions off to reapply to another part of the painting.When I take photographs back into my studio I work to determine how I want to translate this inspiration onto the canvas. I love abstract landscapes because I am working through brush and knife to find the landscape through the creativity and edge of abstraction.
My painting process regardless of subject begins abstractly. I love what I call my paint brush dancing on the canvas. I begin with loose brush sketches and a round brush dancing around the canvas laying in ideas of color. If this stage is going well and I am having fun, I may decide to stay in this loose, less-structured phase. It is VERY difficult to stop working when the painting is fresh and I am having fun. Without taking a step back, I can run the risk of finding that I overworked and lost the dancing strokes that I love. I sometimes set a timer to remind me to move away from the canvas.
In my painting life, I don’t want to be restricted by rules. See my take on Contemporary Impressionist art here.
The same landscape changes from day to day, hour to hour and season to season. Most do not think of French Impressionist Claude Monet as an abstract painter but although his subject is clear, his edges and brushstrokes create through form rather than line. Even though his haystacks, churches and water lilies look effortless, his paintings reflect great skill in building from an abstraction, stroke by stroke, to create his loose impressionist image.
WHEN APPROACHING…
the landscape abstractly, I am able to imagine that the time and day are different and the colors of the sky or the underbrush are accordingly different. Some of my subjects are romanticized in my mind and the actual photo has none of the excitement that I experienced when I was in the landscape. I can usually remember the muck of the bog, the light filtering through the trees or the bark on the trees and the subject emerges based on those feelings and remembrances rather than a photograph. I often like the challenge of trying to change up the routine, hopefully creating a freshness in my landscape work. The skill of painting a realistic still life or landscape uses a different thought process moving in a more linear fashion. I don’t describe myself as an abstract painter. I do not limit myself as an artist to one specific genre or subject matter. Freeing the paintbrush or palette knife to express and abstract color, shapes, lines and pattern, allow me and my painting to work with greater feeling and emotion.
