I’ve been drawing crazy swirly abstracts since middle school. So it was second nature to me when in college, one of my classes required mostly abstract work. See, this was an art class focusing on color and color theory. I assume that is why we did mostly abstracts; to concentrate on the color choices and not the content of our work. To my surprise, most of the students complained and fussed about drawing abstracts. They didn’t get it. Who couldn’t draw abstracts, I wondered. It was much easer than drawing realistically. The students needed something concrete to draw from. So, as our projects went by, I continued to see work containing images with shapes of people and things, not simple flowing shapes of nothingness that could contain any thought provoking memory or feeling the viewer could conjure.
I still find it odd that some artist I talk to say they can’t draw the way I do. I think nothing of it. To me its just play. It’s my time to relax and disconnect with the solid world around me and connect with my inner self and emotions and with my creator. Early on I didn’t realize that was what it was about. It wasn’t until I grew in faith that my art grew. Now I can easily connect my work with how I feel at the time. When I’m happy, my work is open and flowing, when I’m sad or angry my work is tight and compact. The colors can change from light to dark depending on my mood. Now most of all I see God in my work.
Here is a simple exercise. Put on some music. Get a large pad of paper, you’ll need it. Close your eyes and just listen and draw. Really get into the flow of it. Open your eyes and see what you created. It’s quite a fun experiment. It also helps you get in touch with drawing from a non-tangible source.
Here’s another experiment. Take a poem or excerpt from a piece of writing that you like and create a drawing from it. Don’t draw concrete things like a tree or a person. I mean draw the event or emotion in the writing. If you write, use your own work. You will be able to get a better feel of what I’m trying to get you to draw. Oh and don’t forget to have fun.
I did a piece just this past year in October. I was at a vacation home belonging to my friend. I was way up in the mountains of NC near Mars Hill. When I sat down to draw, I wasn’t looking at the view or any other realistic thing. I just thought about how I felt there and what I had seen. The mountains came to mind of course. So I drew mountains or rather shapes that resembled mountains and how I felt when I was there. When I added color I used colors that I had seen there, and colors that represented how I felt when I was there. I was also listening to music at the time as well, so that influenced the final piece too, and the chocolate raspberry desert I ate probably played a part too.
If you don’t like abstract art or creating it, I do hope I have changed your mind. If not, oh well. It may not be your thing, but it sure is mine.
