I blame Covid.
Without meaning to, I've started noticing some Instagram artists who do abstract work. Lori Mirrabelli in Canada, Lana Dion in Sydney, and others. I really, really like their work.
Maybe this abstract thing might be worth playing with, in the privacy of my studio?
I felt the need to be private about it, as I've been fairly scathing of abstraction in the past. I saw Rothkos (and Motherwells? or similar) while at art school. (NSW Gallery) and didn't think it would ever be my thing. I could draw well, so why ignore that skill? The nuns said you had to use any talent that God gave you. And I thought I was "talented".
I also blame the teachers. We were not assisted in our choices as artists. We were left to our own devices to discover a path. Maybe because I was doing the Art Education course, which would end in my being an art teacher, they didn't think we students were worth cultivating as fine artists. I left the course and took up graphic design. In other words, I sold my soul to the dollar.
But when returning to painting full time in 2007, I found I had too many directions. So I stuck with the traditional painting option. The figure, as children and workers, cityscapes, harbourscapes, seascapes. Often paining plein air, with my surrounds dictating my subject matter. Trips to Italy resulted in paintings of the Roman chapels, France resulted in montages of the country side.
14 years on, it's time to look inwards. Total creativity. Abstract Art.
But, as I have the concentration span of a newt, I might change again. Who knows? Who cares?
Best of all, for me, might be a half way point: semi-abstract.
I'll let you know where I end up.
