I find abstraction the most indulgent form of my creative work. This work is always a battle of wills as the Creative Gods jostle to use the artist as a conduit. At least this is what I’ve heard and like to believe. Show up and they will find you!
I believe that abstract works are also an abstraction from a lifetime of experiences and emotions. They allow for total freedom of creative flow.
It can be very addictive because it’s exciting. I don’t plan the piece, I don’t make any sketches, or choose any colours or brushes etc, I just walk into the studio, make a coffee and pick something up. It’s fascinating what appears.
I must be honest with you, even I, as an artist once struggled to see the depth in true abstract works of art. It wasn’t until I started to paint them myself that I finally understood.
I now believe that painting abstract art is the most difficult form, because they are made from pure energy. Most artists became artist’s because they were “the one that could draw” in school. At least I did. I was born being able to copy something perfectly, and I just thought that everyone could do this. Once you get tired of copying things, you start to add your own flavour and inject your own creativity into the subject, which I also did, my Missoni dressed man with a huge bright green hand was cause for alarm in my art class!
What I learned when I started to make abstract paintings is that you must follow the process and trust the flow of being in the zone. I will say in plain English that this sounds ‘naff’ but it’s true. The energy pours out and the hours just vanish and at the end, I’m usually depleted. When you stand in-front of an abstract piece of art, you feel the energy of the artist. It’s in the strokes, the colours, and every mark on the canvas.