Thursday 27 September 2012

Avon Valley Artists Thursday 27 September

Today the subject was `Abstracts' . Yvonne brought a number of boxes and set them up in two places.


The idea was that you produce an abstract painting, or drawing, based on this arrangement. This was kept secret until the actual morning so we were all in the dark, apart from Yvonne! I must admit I was not looking forward to it. The previous evening I pulled out my copy of the Kees van Aalst book `Realistic Abstracts' but found little inspiration. Not to say it isn't a good book because it is, but considerable study and practice is required to understand what abstraction is all about. I've looked at it several times, found it very interesting, especially in regard to some of the featured artists, but not really delved into it in any great detail. This book though mixes abstraction with realism so isn't entirely suitable for pure abstraction. Search Press produce two other books, by the same artist Rolina van Vliet, called `The Art of Abstract Painting' and `Painting Abstracts', which for those seeking to understand the subject are probably better. There are books by other publishers but I have an increasing regard for Search Press, who are producing very good, economically priced, practical art books, amongst a range of other subjects.

In the event faced with these boxes my creative abilities shrivelled, such as they are, and I made a very poor fist of it, one of the problems being I don't like lots of straight lines. However my fellow members, thirteen on this occasion, made much better attempts.

Yvonne Harry

Yvonne was not overly happy with this and said she would be making changes/additions. No doubt the finished work will appear on her blog in the next few days. Specifically she felt it a little weak on colour and needed some curved lines. Some thought she was being over critical.

Pauline Vowles

 Pat Walker (Acrylic)

Helen Newman

Sue Macy

 Jo McKenna

Robert Heal

 My dreadful effort is at bottom right



I think some of the above are pretty good given the subject and the fact there was no real time to plan prior to the meeting. It is certainly not my bag at all but some of the others take a different view. I took my copy of the Kees book to the meeting and Pat Walker  after perusng it was planning to buy a copy from Amazon (£9.09p). The subject next week is `Autumn'.

9 comments:

Carmen said...

I think these are amazing. All of them. Considering you were all looking at the same thing and yet you all came up with such widely different end pieces. Just love it.

Carmen said...

p.s am feeling very much the same about Search Press books - I think the last three art books I bought were from them and when I look through my wishlist - quite a few are their books.

Linda Roth said...

Yvonne's is terrific, but she did have the advantage. All of you did very well considering the set up was a surprise. It's amazing to see all the different perspectives in your group of painters.

Peter Ward said...

Thanks Carmen.
There was some very good stuff today.

Search Press are very good value for money and the books excellent.

Peter Ward said...

Thanks Linda. Some very interesting stuff today. Pity mine wasn't amongst it. Yvonne is very talented and consistently good.

Unknown said...

I echo the comments about the interest in these, some really attractive and thoughtful work. I detect the fact that your heart wasn't in this project.

Peter Ward said...

Thanks Mick. No it wasn't.

artist said...

Abstract art is not my favorite (Done by me). But whenever an instructor in a workshop makes me work abstractly I find that when I return to my "realistic" art I find a place to put in some abstract element.

I thought that all of the groups work was well done.

Peter Ward said...

Thanks Delilah. It isn't my favourite either although I do see some abstract paintings, particularly where they major on strong colour,that I do like.