Imagination on a Canvas

Yes! I can remember being a little kid in my Russian Orthodox church looking at the many larger-than-life icons of saints, the billowing clouds on the ceiling, and the other worldliness of angels. I was captivated.

I love the feeling of immersion and connection while viewing a good painting. It’s right there. It’s just paint on canvas, but it can stir up any number of emotions. I love when the viewer is moved by something the artist created; it’s a shared moment.

I only started painting five years ago. I wanted some large abstract paintings for my home and couldn’t find what I was looking for. I realized that the style of painting I wanted was not technically as difficult as formal painting. I choose to first reproduce a fairly straightforward Mark Rothko painting I loved. It was essentially three soft color fields floating on a large canvas. From that, I keep learning the craft and moving forward to more complex paintings.

Back in college, I collected art books. I think I got most of them from the bookshop on Neil Avenue. Something about Rothko’s work, with its immersive color, large scale, and simplicity just took me in.

It looked like I could do it! (laughter) I’m not really an artist with any formal training or skill, but I have something that allows me to channel emotion in a way that other people connect with.

I Googled the artists I’m interested in and watched YouTube tutorials. Probably a lot like we all learn new skills nowadays.

I’ve always enjoyed creating and designing things like newsletters, posters, flyers, even office forms. Using my imagination to work within the constrictions of the medium is exciting to me, a fun challenge. It was just a matter of acquiring the skill set to do it with paint.

I use acrylic paint because it’s easy to work with, can be cleaned with water, and dries fairly fast (hours to overnight). The other option is oil paint, but it’s strong smelling and needs solvents for cleanup. Watercolors are also very common but not my preference.

If I’m inspired by something I’ve seen; I’ll have it in my head. I don’t know how it’s going to come out, but I know what to do to get there. Abstract Impressionism is very much about allowing the viewer to see how the painting was made, to see the actions it took to get to that point. 

That’s an excellent question because the answer is yes, yes, yes! One is repetition.  In music, it’s enjoyable to hear a repeated chord progression, a repeated chorus. In painting, you want to see some angle, some shape, some color repeated, maybe subtly, maybe in a different size, in a different shade. Repetition is pleasing to the eye just like it’s pleasing to the ear. 

Part of me is science-based, the optometrist who likes order, deduction, reasoning. In painting I can let all that go and allow myself the freedom to create something from nothing, to try a new technique, to make mistakes without repercussion. Mistakes, I’ve discovered, are often the best part of an abstract painting!

Your first paints will typically be red, yellow, blue, green, black, and white. Buy brushes and stretched canvases from a hobby store. Think about the paintings that inspire you. Do you like the detail in realism, the freedom of abstraction, or the heightened emotion of impressionism? I collect images of my favorite paintings to study and reproduce for practice, much like learning to write songs by playing your favorites by other artists.

Yellow ochre. It’s one of the warmest colors and it’s very easy for me to work with. And of course, right behind that? Scarlet and gray!