Centurion watercolour abstract meeting.

Hi everyone, We had a really great afternoon on the 15th May. It was an Abstract workshop by Ingrid Kolzing, There was a good turn out of about 20 people and we all had good fun.
Ingrid started off by giving us 2 definitions:
i "Abstract art is a visual language of form, colour and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.This departure from realism can be slight partial or complete."
ii "Artistic content depends on internal form rather than pictorial representation."
She went on to describe "hard" or "soft abstracts." Ingrid gave us some examples like; abstract expressionism: Jackson Pollack - with the emphasis on spontaneous(automatic).
Willem de Konings - violent and grotesque.
Wassily Kandinsky: - "although it is true that spontaneity or the impression of spontaneity characterized many of the abstract expressionists' work, most of these paintings involved careful planning, especially since their large size demanded it."
Paul Klee, Emma kuntz.
Rothko - abstract art implied to them expression of ideas concerning spiritual and unconscious mind.
Franz Kline, Barnett Newman, Matisse, Leger, Mondrian.
The 21st century themes are: transcendental, contemplative and timeless.
In Abstract art you are working on a 2 dimensional plane. Objects are flattened out. Colour is purely used to the artists preference or feeling (emotion) and is not in a realistic way.
Creativity: Try new things.
Accept risks.
Remain open to surprises.
Never concentrate on errors.
Good paintings release a soul vibrating- creativity with the viewer.
How to go about it.
What fascinates you? Become more sensitive and in tune with your inner thoughts and feelings.
Spend time thinking
Spend time observing.
Spend time listening.
Painting really comes from within and not just coping what you see. painting is a way to place our energy, feelings and soul before the viewer. To be a good painter you need a unique and personal way of seeing that this comes from within, look for it and discover it, this different way of interpreting. NOT COPYING.
You must know your medium and how to use it. This knowledge gives you more freedom and allows you to focus on what you want to say.
A painting tells a story; the story the artist wants to convey, even in an abstract painting.
Even if abstract art does not appeal to you, you will learn something from trying to paint an abstract successfully.
Find joy and fulfilment in this wonderful gift of painting.
Search for your own style and continually work on improving it.
Do not take criticism personally.
Ingrid then explained that we would work on 2 paintings at the same time. Firstly we put masking tape on the paper any where and any way we wanted to. Then we chose one colour and painted on a pale wash.
With the other painting we had to make 3 thumbnail sketches with a curve and a square and develop it. Once we had a composition we like we put it onto our sheet of stretched paper.
Once the first painting was dry we could add or remove the masking and add more colour. we continued with this letting the work dry in between. We could work on this with pastel, ink or pencils.
In the meantime we had been working on the planned painting. While we working on these paintings we were to think of them and get ideas about developing them. When we had finished we put all our work out and we enjoyed seeing some amazing pieces of work.