Desperately Seeking Inspiration!

As you may have noticed, I've missed a lot of posts lately. Here's the thing: I thrive on being forced to stretch my artistic muscles. I've come up with plenty of my own ideas to illustrate, but those are things that aren't really that challenging. Sooooo... I need your help! Surely someone (preferably multiple someones) in the nearly 25 countries that have viewed my blog can give me some kind of idea to get my creativity flowing. So please, please, pleeeease let me borrow just a little of your collective imagination and send me some ideas via email, comment, smoke signal, carrier pigeon, or psychic message.
On a side note, I'm still waiting for ANY submissions in response to this challenge. Just throwing that out there. Again.
Thanks in advance for your imaginational (yeah, I know that isn't a real word) generosity!
Stay creative,
AH!

I've Got the Blues...and Yellows...and Some Green...and a Touch of Red

Happy Sunday! It is Sunday, right? In any case, here's the "Sunday" post for the week.

Since I've already shown both abstract and objective art from my repertoire, I'll skip the explanations about what each is and refer you here and here for examples of objective pieces and here for abstractions.

This first painting is of a tropical fish, the species of which I don't recall (I have more of an affinity for mammals and reptiles than fish).  While the fish is obviously the focus of the painting, I decided to counterbalance the natural intense colors of the fish by removing all of the obvious color from the background.  I say the obvious color because in spite of appearance, the rocks, coral, and sand all contain a degree of blues and purples.  The viewers eyes perceive the small amounts of color on a subconscious level and add to the overall cohesion of the painting.

Next is a nude woman. Seriously. She's been abstracted to the point of being nearly non-objective, but does remain some identifiable features. This is in fact part of a pair of paintings, one abstract and one realistic. I may post the original at some point if I can get a good picture of it. Fear not though, in spite of being a nude the woman in the photograph I worked from is completely decent, so I can still maintain the family friendly atmosphere of the blog. But I digress, so back to the abstract version. With this one I chose to use a primary color scheme (red, yellow, and blue) for the figure of the woman. Since the background of the photograph was jungle foliage, I used green. The green also helps set off the figure from the background in the same way the grey background above helped set off the fish. 

 So there's the *ahem* "Sunday" post for this week. I'm afraid to say I've been slacking a bit in my art creation as of late, but I will definitely be remedying that in the coming weeks.  Speaking of weeks, I hope you all have a great one! Until next post...
Stay creative,
AH!

Abstract Thinking

So I decided this week that I would introduce you to some of my abstract work. These paintings are of two very different types: figurative abstraction and total abstraction.

First is a total abstraction. Believe it or not, this is a painting of a road through the middle of a mountain forest in the fall.  In fact, it's an alternate view of this painting that I posted a couple of weeks ago.  In total abstraction, the subject of the painting is reduced to very basic colors and forms. Here the green and orange shapes could indicate leaves in the midst of transitioning into their fall colors to some, but may evoke completely different thoughts or emotions in others.  Total abstraction in many (even most) cases is less about what the artist sees, and more about what the art viewer sees. Both figurative and total abstraction also tend to convey the feelings of the artist about the subject.  In the case of this painting the artist (me) finds the fall forest both invigorating and peaceful. Paradoxical as those feelings may seem, I think I managed to get a little of both tucked in there.

 This second painting is of another facet of abstraction known as figurative abstraction. In this form the object being depicted is often simplified, but maintains a degree of what makes it recognizable.  This particular painting is of a pair of peace lilies. Notice that even though the shapes of the flowers and leaves are not any shapes that you're likely to see in nature, but are still distinguishable as flowers and leaves. As with the above painting, this painting expresses my feelings of the subject.  The flowing lines and smooth (mostly) cool colors are intended to evoke a feeling of calm and comfortable cool of the spring. The bright warm orange color at the center serves the duel purpose as a defined focal point and as a counterbalance to the cool colors throughout the rest of the painting.

Well, there you go. Two forms of abstract art all laid out for your consideration and (hopefully) enjoyment.  I'm percolating several drawing ideas that I plan to make time to put on paper in the weeks to come. Until then there are still paintings to come so keep checking in and suggest the same to your art-appreciating friends. Also remember, if you have any ideas for drawings, paintings, or even challenges for me please share them either in the comments section or email them directly to me at heymisterh@yahoo.com. Oh yeah! You can also now follow me by my twitter username @HeyMisterH.  I'll be posting links to all of my updates there now, too.

Stay creative,
AH!