I often use collage as a base layer in mixed media pieces, but it's rare that it's visible, other than as texture, by the time I've finished. In recent months, I've had this underlying curiosity about using collage as the main form rather than just a starting point. So, when I saw some discarded papers… Continue reading Scrap collage
I was tidying up a bit and found three strips of paper left over from another project (from cutting the paper into squares for the Woodland abstracts). Rather than put them away and continue tidying, I turned them into this abstract triptych with acrylic paint, alcohol and gilding flakes. The tidying still isn’t finished… Apologies… Continue reading Green & gold abstracts
I showed you the final results from taking Judy Woods free stARTs class last week, and I thought it might be interesting to see how one of the paintings developed from start to finish. The class was very much an exercise in letting go and trusting in the process; we only knew what that day's… Continue reading Woodland abstracts – oak
Oak leaves I don't do people in my art, and while I love animals I am not drawn to representing them either, still life rarely moves me. Instead I tend to focus on nature and landscape, details, and, more recently, abstracts. But it's hard to know where to start with an abstract sometimes and harder… Continue reading Woodland abstracts
At the end of October, Laly Mille ran The Artist Soul online retreat, a short course packed with inspiration for creating abstract artworks. I am a fan of Laly's art style and have created a couple of pieces based on classes she has run before: river and rocks from Wanderlust 2019 and the more recent… Continue reading Artist Soul abstract landscapes
Every month we get a subscription to ScrawlrBox. Every month they have a themed challenge to make something with just the contents of the box. And almost every month the supplies end up being added to my stash to be used at some point. The one exception was when I actually grabbed the soft pastels… Continue reading Squiggle and stripes
This started out as a three colour abstract inspired by a video from Kim Dellow. I do like a lot of abstract art, though I am still trying to work out exactly what appeals to me and what doesn't. As I said, this started out as just three colours, but I decided it needed some… Continue reading “Swipe” abstract painting
This abstract was inspired by Becky Wood over on Twitter. She makes a small piece of art every day — I've given up trying to do specific daily practice, it just doesn't work for me — and changes the style or theme every month. March's theme used a bold stroke of colour over a background… Continue reading Red swipe abstract
This is literally junk. Or at least it was before I got my black paint out. I'd been using cotton buds to put blobs of colour on the top of some acrylic paint bottles so I could quickly see which was which. And then I'd wiped the excess paint off onto a piece of card;… Continue reading Abstract negative painting
Crafty Rat 