abstract artwork Archives – Celebrating Color

Thieves Among Geniuses – Miro and Gaudi

October 14, 2019 By Carol McIntyre

Have you ever had a life experience that includes the good, bad and the ugly all within days, if not hours? I wasn’t going to write about Bob’s (husband) and my vacation to Barcelona, but the impact has been far greater than I could have predicted and it is also art related.

It is called the Miro Foundation, because it is an educational institution as well as an exhibition space. It is the only museum specifically designed for one artist.

A month ago, on a sparkling sunny morning, I drove our rental car down from the Pyrynees Mountains of Spain into a western suburb of Barcelona. I parked on a main road directly in front of the Joan Miro Foundation, locked the car with our luggage and went in to experience the profound artistic life of the renowned Spanish artist Joan Miro (1893-1983).

Before entering, I confessed I knew only a cursory amount about Miro’s artistic influence. Within minutes, my mind was markedly expanded. Britannica describes Miro as: a Catalan painter who combined abstract art with Surrealist fantasy. His mature style evolved from the tension between his fanciful, poetic impulse and his vision of the harshness of modern life. He worked extensively in lithography and produced numerous murals, tapestries, and sculptures for public spaces. These sculptures below show his whimsical side. I loved wandering the exhibitions spaces and experiencing his genius and diversity.

He was a breaker of artistic rules as he constantly pushed the boundaries of painting and sculpture. In fact, he created what he called, “anti-paintings.” Below is an example. We watched a video of him painting and then burning his canvas with a torch from the back. He then painting more on the front. This quickly demonstrated how he did not treat his work as ‘precious,’ which is something so many of us do. I also saw a sense of fearlessness that I have not witnessed before, which was good for me to see.

We left the museum moved by how Miro’s art impacted the world. Because I was embarrassed that I had not studied him or his work, I was inspired and looking forward to journaling about what I had learned and reflecting on my own artistic journey through my visit with Miro.

Upon arriving back at our car, our world was rudely turned upside down and inside out. The lights for unlocking the car did not blink and I immediately knew something was wrong. Our car vent window had been smashed and all of our luggage and a computer bag were gone. It was gut wrenching. Oddly, we had read several articles about the rampant stealing and pick pockets in Barcelona and had taken several steps to protect ourselves, but this was completely unexpected. Even the Spanish were shocked to hear about the significance of this theft.

The vacation that we had been planning for months with high expectations, came to an abrupt halt. Plans of celebrating our 34th wedding anniversary further up the Spanish coast and then over into southern France to spend time with friends was over. We felt stripped and violated.

With nothing but the waist pouches and clothes on our backs, we then spent about 3.5 hours in the Barcelona Police Station. I will not bore you with the crazy details of that experience. It was 7pm on a Saturday evening when we arrived at our hotel in the heart of the tourist area. What to do next? Where do we purchase something to sleep in, a toothbrush, other clothes, prescription drugs, etc??!!

Then we had to decide if we should try to continue on our trip or not. Given several circumstances, it was best to return home. We were emotionally devastated. The next few days were spent obtaining new passports, returning a damaged car, purchasing necessary items, figuring out new airline schedules, and trying to recover from the trauma of the event. In retrospect, both of us were in a state of shock for several days.

Fortunately, I proclaimed, “I will never return to Barcelona, but I will not leave without seeing some of Antoni Gaudi’s (1852-1926) work.” Oh my! We were in for another profound eye opener. I knew that his influence was evident throughout Spain, in particular Barcelona, but I was not aware of its significance. Because of the theft, we were not able to take advantage of tickets we had purchased in before leaving the US. However, we did walk by the Casa Batllo. What a fun and funky apartment. He was a genius way ahead of his time much like Da Vinci. I encourage you to learn more about Gaudi.

We then went to his magical and magnificent La Sagrada Familia!! On another beautiful day, we approached this basilica in awe.

It encompasses an entire city block. Hence, photos do not begin to give it justice. Nearly every architectural decision Gaudi made was symbolic and mathematically calculated. The Spanish began constructing this world wonder in 1882 and intend to have it completed by 2026, which will be miraculous if they do.

Below, the stained glass windows create the gradation of green to orange via the afternoon sunlight. It was something to behold. The Sagrada Familia is a sacred place. I could feel its beauty and spirituality. We are grateful for having experienced it as words cannot describe it adequately.

We arrived home with mixed feelings. We were safe and yet we had to begin putting our lives back together again and dealing with insurance paperwork, replacing items, etc. I experienced days of depression and minor anxiety attacks as well a moments of anger. Finally, I asked a good friend to tell me to “Go and paint!” I wasn’t really motivated, but I know that painting grounds me and often takes me out of negative spaces.

Here is one of the paintings I created. I had no expectations. I just started applying layers of paint while tapping into my emotions. Given my story, what is your interpretation of it?

Painting did help get me back on track again. Processing inspiring artists such as Miro and Gaudi, while trying to navigate this trauma will take more time…..and painting. Writing this post is also cathartic. Thank you for coming along.

What do you do when life throws you a curve ball? Does creativity play a role?

How do you process seeing artwork that moves you to tears and intellectually challenges you?

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Colorfully and gratefully yours,

Carol

PS I noticed that Miro and Gaudi used color differently. It will be interesting to study this further.

To Do List for Art Show

January 13, 2017 By Carol McIntyre

It was two weeks before my solo show “Unveiling the Invisible: Abstracts Sparking Your Imagination,” and my head was spinning with things I needed to get done. Feeling overwhelmed, I finally sat done and wrote out my “to do” list — again. I had written one out a few months earlier, but now it was time to know exactly all of the nitty-gritty things that I needed to get done.

Once the list was completed, I felt both relieved and discouraged. I started questioning whether I could actually check everything off the list within 14 days! After I took a deep breath, I felt more in control and confident. Flying by the seat of pants is not how I like to operate. Here is my studio a few days before I started packing 19 paintings.

What did my “To Do List” for the Art Show look like?

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How does a Hawk Inspire an Abstract Painting?

January 4, 2017 By Carol McIntyre

What inspires an abstract painting? As with realistic or impressionistic paintings, inspiration can come from a multitude of places/sources. Up until now, my abstracts evolved as they developed — as I applied layers of paint and texture. Often I would be many layers into a painting before its “voice” or message started to become apparent and I began to have a conversation with it.

This approach changed when I saw a stunning Cooper’s hawk photograph by a Facebook friend. With his permission, I used this image as my inspiration.

My Steps in Creating this Abstract Painting:

After I prepped my 24×36 panel with textured gesso, I then mixed colors for the color scheme I intended to use in the painting. I always determine my color palette before I begin painting. If I do not do this, it turns into a mess and I am not a happy camper. Some painters believe that this is limiting, I find it liberating!

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How Do You Paint Your Canvas Edges? A Step-by-Step Demo

November 19, 2015 By Carol McIntyre

Do you paint your canvas edges? Have you noticed the increased popularity of wrapped canvases during the past couple of years? Though the deeper canvases, commonly called gallery wrapped canvases, are slightly more expensive for the artist, they do save us the expense of a frame. Also, as the styles of painting trend toward more abstract, mixed media and contemporary, the gallery wrapped canvas conveys a more modern design that works well in most home and office interiors.

As I have wandered through galleries inspecting the painted edges of numerous paintings, I have been quite surprised by the wide range of care – from poor to exquisite – artists have taken in painting the edges of their gallery wrapped canvases or deep panel boards.

After unsatisfactory online research for resources about painting canvas edges, I embarked on my own trial and error journey to figure out how to achieve the quality of presentation I wanted. A clean professional look of my canvas edges is important to me. Below I outline my process.

Step-by-Step Demonstration of Painting Canvas Edges

One caveat: because I do not like the manufactured texture of canvas, I gesso all of my canvases/boards irrespective of the edges.

1. After I apply the first layer of gesso with a brush and it has dried, I then paint the edges and overlap the front of the canvas with an acrylic middle-gray paint. See photo below. By the way, this middle gray makes it easier to paint the final color of the edges after the painting is finished, be it darker or lighter.

jknm

2. For this particular canvas, I wanted the edge to literally ‘frame’ the painting, so I wanted the gray to overlap the edge onto the painting surface about 3/8th of an inch. (See example at end of post of a finished painting using this overlapped framed idea.) To give my eye a guide, I drew a pencil line 5/16th of an inch from the edge using a favorite matting tool I have as demonstrated in the photo above.

Why is the space wider than my desired 3/8th? Pencil lines can often show through paint, so I wanted the line to get covered up with the next layer of gesso.

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Simplistic Isn’t Easy: Daily Painting Lesson

October 8, 2015 By Carol McIntyre

During my recent daily painting challenge, I decided to further explore the painting style of abstracting still lifes. I had just started on this new style a few weeks before the 30-day challenge began. I wanted to see what my results would be when I truly simplified my subject.

For most of my painting years – over 25 – I have painted predominantly representational work. A few years ago I began fusing realism with abstraction as evident in “Getting Back Into the Game.” As you can see, the abstract areas are mainly shapes, colors and textures. They are not the abstraction of an object or subject.

“Getting Back Into the Game”

In “Focused Alignment,” you can again see how I painted the hands and the vertebrae rather realistically and the surrounded them with abstraction.

“A Focused Alignment”

With this new painting style I am not only simplifying the subject, as seen below, I am also painting it flat. In my previous representational and abstract work I have always intended to make my subjects appear as three dimensional as possible. I created images that encouraged the viewer to want to enter into the picture plane.

In this next style I am experimenting with my brain is required to look at my subject from a totally different perspective. I am doing four things I am not accustomed to doing: 1.) simplifying the subject; 2.) using colors that are not realistic; 3.) flattening the subject; and 4.) creating a whimsical theme of the subject. [Read more…]