500th Blog Post & Therapy In Abstraction Part II

 500th Blog Post

I started this blog in 2019 as a way to escape social media and for the most part it has worked. Even though I've stepped away from it a few times but I always seem to return to it. I wish more people embraced blogging like they did in the early 2000s, especially the artists. It's a much more enjoyable method than the shit of social media with its ads, politics, spam, hacks and influencers......oh and its algorithms.

Therapy in Abstraction Part II

Since my last post I have finished two books of abstraction painting using Gouache on paper. A total of 46 paintings so far. This therapy has helped so far and this point I'm going to keep going but I'm out of paper pads and almost out of Gouache paint.

When approaching a blank piece of paper I have no idea what I'm going to paint until the brush begins to move.

 I'm also not trying to create painting after painting that all look the same. That wouldn't help me at all. Sometimes I don't even use a brush. It could be a piece of cardboard, foam, my finger or even a wood coffee stir stick.

  None of these paintings will be named and on the back they are numbered in the order they are painted. I never understood the naming of abstract painting because once they're named in a non relevant manner to what's on the canvas they are no longer abstract.

    So far I've found Gouache an interesting paint to work with. It mixes different than watercolor but not quite the same as acrylic paint. I would like to use it more in the future.

  As I've stated that I'm almost out of Gouache paint I'll most likely move on to watercolor next, then maybe acrylic. I might even have some pastel paint around somewhere too.

   Since I've been using Gouache paint in a far less wet state than watercolor I'm often left with plates, trays and containers with dry paint remnants. I've been using this left over paint to make even smaller abstractions on a bunch of found 4x6" index cards. When I run out of these cards I'll begin using anything else I can find.