What can abstraction teach a representational painter?

1. Sense of humor

2. A new way to see

3. Openness

4. Courage

5. Playfulness

6. Patience

7. Perseverance

8. How to be critical without judgment

Overall, abstraction gave this representational painter an attitude adjustment. Abstraction for me is like taking a road trip without time constraints. I have a general destination in mind but there are many possibilities for the journey. There will be many spontaneous changes along the way. Even the destination is open to change.

This is different from representational painting when I want to capture a particular landscape with that wonderful light. Or, my still life has to look like a particular bowl with lemons, a tangerine, and a pear.

I learned I must have a sense of humor. A painting that looked like it might be flowers turns out to look like a space alien from Star Trek. I went with the alien.

If the work is non-representational, you must have a new way of seeing. All the principles of good design are as important as they ever were: center of interest, repetition, rhythm, movement, contrast, balance, harmony and discord. Now I use space, shape, line, value, color, texture, and pattern with more freedom to accomplish a good design.

But, you have to be open make changes, open to take risks and even be open to fail. That takes some courage but it also leads to playfulness. If you know your medium you can usually fix whatever has gone awry. For pastel, a foam brush to wipe away pastel and transparent gesso to regain the tooth of the surface is my solution to a mess.

Of course starting over or making major alterations develops patience and perseverance. Sometimes it is hard to let go of an idea and go in another direction.

There have been many times that I said to myself, "That is truly ugly and I don't know where I am going with this." So  I made a critical assessment but I did not judge myself. I had to stop the negative internal thought about my abilities and just chalk this up to another learning experience.

Finally, I had to put some restrictions on myself in order to get a start and have some direction. Otherwise I am lost. So, here is an example of my usual nonrepresentational artistic experience. My self imposed restriction is a yellow monochromatic palette with a triangular design. Wow, that is not something I would ever have chosen but here goes.

I pick out the paper and draw a triangle. Initially I envision clothing with a lapel. I decide to use pan pastels but I am allowing myself any pastel stick that is in the yellow family.

I continue to add pastel and find that it is almost like a meditation, very soothing but not much thought. There is some depth to the piece but it is too rigid with too many hard edges. I don't like it.

This is where I say, "I hate it and don't know where to go with it. I will fix it by starting again." I critically assess the work but no judgment about my abilities. I courageously take a foam brush to it and wipe off pastel. The triangle has a lot of transparency and I like that but still too many hard lines.

I brush transparent gesso over the image so that I have more tooth to apply more pastel. This gesso dries clear and fixes this image. Now pastel on top will not mix with the pastel I have under the gesso. I am now open to change.

I turned it on the side, looking at things differently. I added broad strokes of color with pastel sticks.  I wanted a stronger value pattern and think about a center of interest. I'm working on patience and persistence.

Time to break out triangles and stencils with words. Let's play.

The series of smaller triangles were created by subtracting pastel. I used a stencil and an eraser to do that. I could see the possibility of more triangles within the larger shape.

I liked the vertical orientation, developed subtle triangles, broke edges and developed the values. I was careful where I showed visual texture. Here is the end result, "Yellow Triangle," a 12 x 9 in. soft pastel on paper.

Sue and my alternate personality, Suzy.

This painting, "Sona" was created for the Freedom 58 Project. It will be shown in the "Faces for Freedom" series of art exhibits that feature survivors of human trafficking and other forms of violent oppression. This was an incredibly meaningful experience for me, truly a privilege. I hope it accomplishes it's purpose which is to raise awareness of the problem of modern day slavery.

This is a 12 x 18 in. pastel painting on paper. You can see my planning process in my previous blog. Once I did the block in, I continued with the pastel until I was done because I was so inspired. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos during that process because I was so completely absorbed in the subject.

Did you know that there are 35 million slaves today? Human trafficking is a $32 billion industry and it is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. 2 million women and children are trafficked annually. If you live in the U.S. you may think this is not our problem but you are wrong. People are trafficked into our country all the time. They are looking for a job, a better life but they become victims.

Sona was rescued from slavery on her way to India from Nepal.  She did not know what was going to happen to her. Sona is not this girl's real name. I have pictured the beautiful landscape of Sona's native country, Nepal. I have not clearly painted her portrait so as to hide her identity. I wanted the sunrise to give a hopeful image.

Artists have the remarkable opportunity to give the violently oppressed dignity, beauty, and hope. If you are an artist or want to know more about this project go to: http://www.freedom58project.com/

Sue Flanagan

"Violet Cruciform" a 12 x 9 in. pastel on Wallis paper came from an old painting.

My plan from my 3 bags of choices ended up being a cruciform design with violet and the analogous red violet and blue violet as my colors. I had an old painting that had a lot of violet in it. The paper was very good so I brushed off the old pastel painting.

Then I started with pastel applying shades of red violet and blue violet in a cruciform pattern.

I wasn't pleased with the image. So, I used transparent gesso to push the pastel into the paper and to add texture. Now I had a pleasing deep violet for the background.

I used extra thick transparent gesso for more texture in the cruciform pattern.

When this was dry, I applied pastel. The soft pastel really grabbed onto the ridges of the thick gesso which dries transparently. I wish I could show you intermediate steps but once I got into the rest of the painting, I was so absorbed that I pressed on to the end. After I took a photo I realized that the viewer could see too much texture in the corners. I wanted that reserved for the cruciform shape. So, I blended and softened the corners with my gloved finger. This is the end result.

I know, it is intense but I like the vibrant color. The next one should be quite a challenge. I picked a yellow, monochrome triangle from my 3 bags. I never would have come up with that combination.

Stay tuned,

My two personalities, Sue and Suzy

The Freedom 58 Project is a project to create multiple art exhibits calling for the End of Modern Day Slavery. I have volunteered to do a painting of a young woman rescued from human trafficking. I was given hundreds of photos of the landscape of Nepal, her native country. I am to do a portrait of her in the landscape without revealing her identity.

I decided on a landscape that shows the incredible snow covered mountains of Nepal. I thought of several ways to hide the young woman's  identity but finally decided that if she were in a back-lit scene, she would be in shadow. I am also going to put hair over one eye.

Since correct value is critical for this piece, a thumbnail sketch was not enough. So I did a black and white sketch with charcoal in a 12 x 18 in. format, the size of the final painting.

I'm not sure if I'm going to use the image of the tree since this is supposed to be a hopeful painting. Now, I am procrastinating because it is time to transfer the drawing to the sanded paper and begin applying pastel. In the first photo, I have faint lines indicating the major shapes.

Then, I did an alcohol wash. When that was dry, I started developing the sky and distant mountains.

I have a long way to go. I will have to get darker values in the figure to stay true to the value sketch. I hope I am up to the task and that the final painting will benefit this project that has such a worthy cause.

More later,

Sue and Suzy

What a difference one week can make in the weather in the Chicago area. Today we painted at Sagawau Nature Center.

Judy and I wanted to paint architecture so we picked part of the farmhouse. It was 70 degrees so we were out in short sleeves. Flies were annoying us and we actually got a little sunburn. Five days ago I was 40 miles farther north at Crabtree Nature Center. It was about 30 degrees and I painted this scene.

Here is Sagawau today and Crabtree last week.

Both were fun. I've noticed that our group is finding beauty and interesting things to paint in unexpected places.

Sue and Suzy