Split Personality

So, I thought I'd just say how much I am enjoying the freedom and expression that some of my abstract work is bringing me. Its a different way of thinking and looking at art and in particular, a landscape. I still love to paint up a good old bit of landscape, one my mum can look at and go "Ooh! Thats a lovely painting of a mountain!" but sometimes as an artist you feel like there is a bit of an itch you need to scratch. An avenue, be it a technique, a style a process that you want to have a go at and try to get good  at. Picasso said' "I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it". A very good point of view if you ask me. Many people shy away from something that is unfamiliar, takes them out of their comfort zone or 

Husband doesn't get it at all - He finds the concept of abstract art a strange one. He, like many people, appreciates a wide range of art styles and types but abstract is not one of them. He cannot understand how recently a very abstract piece of mine sold online. I have tried to explain the abstraction to him and that just because it doesn't look like a photograph, doesn't mean its not a good piece. Some of my abstract works take longer to produce and even require more paint and other mediums, than some of my more traditional works. The techniques I use in some of the abstract stuff requires long periods of waiting for paint to dry, scraping back layers, sanding back others, re-painting and re-glazing. 

There is always a starting point, an inspiration, that sparks the piece. It could be a colour, an emotion, a place, an object but its always there and the piece wouldn't exist without it. Sometimes when you're trying to represent something intangible or perhaps a combination of elements, feelings, smells, colours, it's difficult to paint a picture of it and the best way to do that is to abstract it out; represent various elements with different shapes, colours and ideas. 

I love being able to flit between the two and expressing different parts of who I am. Just because I like realism, doesn't mean I can't like abstract also. That's the great thing about Art, it allows a person freedom in the way they express themselves but sometimes people are quick to pigeonhole you - that you are 'this' type of artist or 'that' type of artist. Why should it be that way? Art by definition demands an open mind and an appreciation that whatever piece is in front of you is someone's work that they had a spark of inspiration to create, spent time on and are (most likely) proud of. 

Most of all, art should be about surrounding yourself with pretty things, you don't have to over analyse it, some people hang a painting because they like the colour and it matches the rest of their room, not because it tries to say anything about them. As an artist, the more people I can get to like my work - any of my work - the better!