Abstract and Modern Art Paintings Blog

New studio, new paintings

Posted by Swarez on June 17, 2010  |  No Comments

Not much to say about these two bad boys except that they are the first two I have produced in my new studio. I have consolidated operations into one main studio now as it was getting a little to hard to organise myself between three locations. I have a good square footage of studio space now which is bathed in fantastic natural light – enough to take really good photographs of my work. What’s great about the space is that I can have an area to let things dry out and one to take photographs and one to paint in whilst still having room for all my materials and a piece of floor that I use to stretch canvases and glue frames together. Logistically this is heaven.

Glow in the dark paintings

Posted by Swarez on May 24, 2010  |  No Comments

I happened upon fluorescent paint quite by accident when I visited an art supplies store in London recently. I have been steadily working it into my paintings here and there over the last month or so simply because I liked the brash and lively things it did when added to ordinary colours. It has the effect of bringing the painting alive somehow. So imagine my surprise when a friend of mine suggested that we see what happens when we illuminate a piece with an ultra violet light source? The result, it’s fair to say, was jaw-dropping and a complete revelation to me.

One year in paintings

Posted by Swarez on March 10, 2010  |  No Comments

Click image to see video

I decided to take a long, lingering look back at the past twelve months and piece together the paintings that best reflected the work I had done and the progress I have made. I think as artists we are always learning – whether it be about the technicalities of paint, discovering new applications or learning more about ourselves so it’s good to sometimes look back on the 80% you have achieved and not always at the 20% you haven’t.

How I paint Abstract Art (Part One)

Posted by Swarez on February 22, 2010  |  No Comments

Click to read full post

I’m often asked how I paint what I paint. What I mean by that is what kind of twisted bizarre things are there in my head to make me want to consciously paint some of the things I do. I don’t find the process of painting abstract difficult, ideas happen randomly, sometimes planned, sometimes not. The root of the form lies with the ability to see something in your head, either as a whole or in parts. Sometimes I only see bits at a time so I work on those. Normally I am driven by shapes and colours and how they interact with each other to make new forms. No matter what artists tell you every abstract is an experiment. Why? Ask an artist if they are ever happy with any of their works or whether they have re-painted a piece because it wasn’t right. The reason is because it doesn’t work. And if it doesn’t work then it’s gone wrong – experiments go wrong.

Chaos Controlled – An artists guide to drip painting

Posted by Swarez on February 13, 2010  |  1 Comment

Click the photo to read the full post

It’s impossible, when talking about the techniques of drip or controlled pour painting, not to mention the influence of Jackson Pollock on the genre. His work is as controversial now as it was fifty years ago, yet whilst much is talked of the man and his paintings seldom is written about the actual process and techniques of drip painting or what an artist thinks about whilst he or she is engaged in their work. I will try and give you an insight into the technique from my own perspective, which is in no way linked to or copied from anyone else’s style or work.

How it all gets started

I lay a blank piece of canvas on the floor. At this point I know what colours I am using and the basic structure of what I want to produce. I can see very clearly what the finished article will look like. Right down to the sizes of the strokes, depth of colour, how many layers it will be composed of, how I’m going to thin the paints and in what order I will start. I spend a long time mixing colours and even longer on the thinning process, using a number of different thinning agents and in different ratios of paint to thinners. This affects how the painting will look when it dries.

Bish Bash Bosh! No easels for me

Posted by Swarez on February 5, 2010  |  3 Comments

I don’t always paint on the floor although, as you can see from the picture above, it’s the only way to get big paintings done. There’s something very basic and pure about laying out a piece of canvas out in front of you. A blank space to create – there’s nothing like it. Mind you, I always find it daunting when I arrive at this point, even when I know what I want to paint. I’m always wary of what I’m going to produce. Ironically things seldom turn out the way I plan it in my head. I’m always surprised by the direction the painting takes me – almost unconsciously steering me in odd directions. Click the heading to read more…

New Drip Painting in progress

Posted by Swarez on January 20, 2010  |  4 Comments

It’s been a while since I have had the motivation to get painting again. I haven’t been short of ideas – simply short on desire. Thankfully though I now have my creative head on again and have been working on this latest piece. It is the first time I have worked on a piece of unprimed canvas cloth. As i paint on the floor I have noticed that a lot of paint has gone straight through onto the carpet underneath which looks pretty cool!

Penguins of the Apocalypse – what was I thinking?

Posted by Swarez on January 11, 2010  |  1 Comment

Sooner or later I’m bound to talk about paintings, it’s inevitable. However, I tend to see the process of creating art in a slightly absurd and warped perspective. This has been demonstrated perfectly during the creation of Penguins of the Apocalypse, the painting you see attached to this post. It is an interestingly titled work isn’t it? I may like to point out that I didn’t begin by imagining a line of penguins wandering meaninglessly through a nuclear holocaust – that would make me just plain weird. The question beckons though: What was I thinking?

Cold weather blues

Posted by Swarez on January 8, 2010  |  9 Comments

On days when the temperatures fall off the Kelvin scale I get particularly jittery about my paintings. In part this is due to the fact that my home studio (nee sieve, as it leaks like one) is about ten feet from the backdoor of the house and not IN it. I have none of the comforts of home even though I’m so close to it. Despite my best efforts to keep the warmth in and the continental ice shelf out  my efforts are always in vain. The ice wins every time.

Now where did I leave my inspiration?

Posted by Swarez on December 9, 2009  |  No Comments