Abstract | The Studio

Archive for the ‘Abstract’ Category

Jon’s Abstract

Posted in Abstract, Art Camp, Art Class, tagged Abstract, acrylic on August 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Jon at Adult Class Last week Jon attended Art Camp.

His grandmother takes my Wednesday Adult Art Class so Jon stayed after Camp on Wednesday and painted this great work of art. Don’t you love it!!!! Great job Jon.

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Demo to Loosen Up Your Work

Posted in Abstract, Art Class, Tips for Better Painting, tagged Abstract, abstract art, Art Class, daily painter, daily painting, floral, impressionism, pear, Virginia Artist on February 7, 2014| 5 Comments »

Warm-up Abstract

Warm-up Floral

Warm-up Pear

In our Wednesday morning adult art class this week I gave a demonstration on “Loosening up” your paintings. I took a workshop several years ago from Robert Burridge, a terrific California painter and teacher, who taught us to do these warm-up paintings. His idea is to line up 6-8 sheets of watercolor paper and then quickly lay on several colors of paint. They will then all look like abstract paintings. The second step is to paint out anything that doesn’t look like whatever subject you want the painting to be. For instance, in the floral painting shown here I filled in background and added a vase. Then I shaped up a few of the colors to look like flowers and leaves. This entire process, all three of these paintings, took about 20 minutes. This forces a painter to work quickly and loose.

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A Fun Transformation

Posted in Abstract, Art Class, tagged Abstract, abstract art, acrylic, Art Class, art lessons, flowers, impressionism, Virginia Artist on September 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Before

After

We had a fun lesson yesterday with my young artist. We transformed an old canvas that had been painted as an abstract and turned it into a fun post-impressionist painting in the style of Matisse. Take a look at the before and after. What do you think?

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Pat’s Favorite

Posted in Abstract, tagged Abstract, abstract art, acrylic, Art Class, daily painter, daily painting, Virginia Artist on July 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Pat’s Favorite is an acrylic abstract, 12″ x 12″, on gallery wrap canvas. From time to time one of my students wants to experiment with abstract. That happened last week in art class so this is the demonstration painting that I did while explaining abstract.

One of my favorite students, Pat (see her here), is not a fan of abstract so I named this for her. 🙂

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O’Keeffe at The Phillips

Posted in Abstract, Travel, tagged Albert Barnes, Duncan Phillips, Georgia O'Keeffe, Phillips DC, post-impressionism, The Phillips Collection on July 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Georgia O’Keeffe
Red Hills, Lake George
1927

Georgia O’Keeffe
Ranchos Church, 1929

Georgia O’Keeffe
From the White Place
1940

Winding down with my photos from my recent visit to The Phillips. Before I share them let me just encourage you to make a trip there if you are in DC. It’s worth the time. It’s an exceptional collection of post-impressionist and modern art. Duncan Phillips was a brave collector of art who introduced America to modern art through his collection and exhibits. Read more about him here.

My favorite story about Phillips involves him standing in front of “Luncheon of the Boating Party” , probably the most important painting Renoir ever painted, with Albert Barnes, also an art collector and founder of the Barnes Collection in Philly who collected almost 200 Renoir in his lifetime. Barnes says to Phillips, “That’s the only Renoir you have, isn’t it?” to which Phillips says, “It’s the only one I need”.

Today I’m sharing some of Phillips collection of Georgia O’Keeffe. Wonderful examples of her work.

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Kids and Abstract Florals

Posted in Abstract, Art Class, tagged acrylic, Art Class, Blue Ridge Arts Council, flowers on June 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

We try various styles of art in our classes. The kids are open to trying it all. Here are the representational abstract floral that we did some time back. Very imaginative and striking! Good job!

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Representational Abstract Flowers

Posted in Abstract, Art Class, daily painter, tagged acrylic, Art Class, daily painter, daily painting, flowers, impressionism, Virginia Artist on May 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I had a few minutes at last nights art class to add a few more touches to the Abstract painting of flowers that I repainted from the day before. Here is “Abstract Flowers”, acrylic on canvas, 18″ x 24″, available by contacting kwalker@doubledogdesigns.com .

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Transforming an Old Painting

Posted in Abstract, Art Class, Tips for Better Painting, tagged Abstract, abstract art, acrylic, Art Class, daily painter, daily painting, flowers, Virginia Artist on May 2, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Adding a Table to an old Abstract

At class last night I decided to transform an old abstract painting into something else. You can paint right over some paints and make an entirely different creation. If the paint is especially thick you can sand it down lightly with a fine sandpaper. I am working in acrylic paints with this one that didn’t need sanding. I started with an abstract that I did back in February (you can read about it here) and started painting in a table.

Next I started thinking about where I wanted to add a vase of flowers so that I could paint in a background all around where the flowers would be. And I added a vase and started firming up the shapes of the flowers. Tonight I hope to continue putting in details that will finish it off as a “representational abstract” painting.

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Ready for Spring

Posted in Abstract, Art Class, tagged Abstract, acrylic, Art Class, art lessons, Blue Ridge Arts Council, daily painting, flowers, impressionism, Virginia Artist on March 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

At our young artists class this week we painted a representational abstract of a floral arrangement. We called it Spring Explosion. We use brushes but also our fingers to get the abstract effect. And yes, they LOVED that! If you have a young artists ages 7-13 contact us and come join the fun.

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Boxcar Graffiti

Posted in Abstract, Travel, Trivia, tagged Boxcar graffiti, train graffiti, Virginia Inland Port on March 4, 2013| 1 Comment »

Most mornings while we are at the dog park we see a train come by. Jed loves to chase the trains along the fence so I usually try to wait for one before we leave. I have noticed that almost every boxcar is covered with graffiti. It made me curious. Graffiti is defined as writings or drawings scribbled, scratched or sprayed on walls or other public places. In most cases it is illegal.

I have learned that there is a specific culture of “Freight Train Graffiti” artists. It’s a vibrant art form that allows these anonymous artists to have their art seen by hundreds of people each day.

Usually painted using aerosol cans of paint, I can only imagine where it is being created and how. It’s almost a stealth art form. We get to see a lot of it as these trains head in and out of the Virginia Inland Port here in Front Royal. The port brings a great deal of boxcars and a great deal of “art” into the community for anyone who will look.

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