Composing an Abstract Piece

After all the work and experimentation - shown here in "Abstract Experimentation" - we now were to create a smaller abstract piece on a piece of canvas, just like when we created the large composition we were to take inspiration from the abstract experimentation we did as a group in the long large pieces paper.

I started by doing various compositions based on the random compositions - I found it really hard to just create a composition especially with it being abstract and I wasn't too sure on how to actually plan out and create a composition. After getting into the swing of letting my ideas flow a little more I found it a little more easier draw up an abstract composition but it still was difficult - but after doing some research into composition I found it a little more easier to create a piece of work with some guidelines on how the piece would be laid out.



Since I really liked this orange and black mini-composition I thought I would design a properly constructed composition, and use this as my main source of inspiration.

As I really like the colours in the red-orange-yellow spectrum- and I planned to use them in my abstract piece anyway since these colours are what I consider to be "My" colours (since I use them often and also  just prefer them.)

My first practise on using canvas I decided to test out what a difference a primed canvas and a unprimed canvas would make when using acrylic and ink - I thought both versions were good, but I did prefer the unprimed side. I think this was because I liked the sort of rustic feel that was achieved by the paint blending into the canvas and also when I dripped ink and watery acrylic the primed base it didn't drip and spread like it did at the unprimed side.

Unprimed Side

Acrylic Primed Side

My first practise piece I wanted to bin when I layed on the yellow to red spectrum, I finger painting the paint on since I really like the effect that it gives but I must have got a little carried away without realising it - It looked like a particular part of the group large piece which really annoyed me. I felt a bit like copycat, but I honestly didn't realise what I was doing was similar to our group piece.

I asked to throw it away but Jon told me that I shouldn't and that I should push through this stage of frustration and try to improve and fix it to what I had imagined. So I tried to to change it by adding new colours and different techniques, I found that when I added the blue and green made the piece look a lot better - by adding some framework to the piece.

After my trial run and research into composition I decided to add the Pyramidal and Triangular composition to my piece (since after researching) I found that I preferred those kinds of compositions, also I thought that the shape of it would suit it what I had done on my practice piece.

So on a new unprimed canvas I started again and this time with a Pyramidal composition.

How this second piece turned out was a lot more closer to what I pictured in my head (which can't be said for everything that I do) I did like it but I did prefer the first version - but I think that was becuase I liked the practice piece before I started the real version. But I think next time when I decide to use a composition rule - I won't use it as literally as I did do in the second painting, since it was a first actually a composition rule in an abstract painting.