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Saturday night was the “Art Riot Reception” at the Escondido Municipal Gallery, and my husband Les,  my son Chris, and myself  all  went.  It was a juried show with a good selection of abstract art to enjoy.  One of  Chris’ abstract paintings was in  the show, which guaranteed we’d be there!  The show was quite interesting, with much energy from many artists and their work.

As we walked through the gallery looking and discussing all the artwork, it made me think of the incredible journey being an abstract artist is.  There are so many things that go into creating a piece of abstract, the biggest one is letting go of a preconceived concept that art must look like something identifiable.  It doesn’t!  There are many factors to be considered such as, balance, color, but the art of abstracting  is intuitive, and mostly anything goes.  It speaks of your  feelings, and emotions.  The mood of the day goes write down onto the canvas telling your story.  It will speak to some, not to all, but it doesn’t matter because it speaks to you the artist!

Many of us who love abstract, have difficulty painting it, myself included!  In thinking about it, my problem is loosening up – not thinking about what I’m creating, and simply create.  There is a lot to say, sorting out the most important conversation at that moment seems difficult.  Simplifying the clutter is a challenge.  For me, getting bottled up, and not being able to simplify is a problem I’m well aware of.  There must be a lot for me to say!

My question is while we are all on this incredible journey together,  what do you do to simplify, sort out the unimportant things, and focus on the things that need to be said on canvas at this moment in time?  Does anyone have tricks, or is diving in and painting each and every day the key?  Maybe with each of us having our own style, some artists need to say more at a time than others.  Then I have to ask, do the artists that say more on each canvas, have a more active verbal voice also?  Are they people who just won’t stop talking, spilling out everything that enters their  mind?  Do we want to hear it, or would we like them to keep it to themselves?  Maybe this is the same in art,  we can’t like every kind of art, but we can appreciate the place deep within the soul that it comes from, and the journey each of us takes!