Another colour field painting

Acrylics on canvas, 40x50 cm, no title.

Here is another colour field painting, again highly inspired by Helen Frankenthaler. We have got this challenge from the art course I am attending (have a look at the school here: www.kunstskole.com) to paint colour field paintings. I tried painting my own interpretation of "colour fields" but was not satisfied with my results. So I decided to allow myself to learn from other artists by copying. This is not a replica of Helen Frankenthaler, but it is very much inspired by one of her paintings.

Colour field painting

Acrylics on canvas, 40x50 cm, no title.

At the art course I am folloving we are now working on colour fields paintings. It is an abstract style that appeared in the 1940-50ies where the artists explored the colour itself as the object of the paintings.

This painting is very much inspired by the north-american artist Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011). It may appear simple to paint abstract paintings, but it is much harder than you should think to get the colours and shapes sing together. So, taking a peek at other artists` work helps a lot, at least for me.

Inspired by Francis Bacon

Oil and acrylic on canvas, 18x24 cm, not title.

Painted today, inspired by the surrealistic paintings by Francis Bacon. I had no plan, but had Francis Bacon paintings in my mind. I started out with a blue background. Then I used my personal creativity trick! - I take a bottle of acrylics which has a thin needle-like opening and then quickly draw random lines which I immediately drag out with a dishwasher sponge! Then I start looking for interesting shapes, figures etc. I repeat this process until I see a figure I can work and build on. This time it was enough with one quick swirl with the acrylics bottle, and I saw this figure appearing. To me it is person bathing in the night. I tried out some figures and some orange colour in the upper right corner to balance the blue and to have something the person could gaze on, but I found that it disturbed the painting.

House painting

Acrylics on canvas, 30x40 cm, no title.

I was not able to take a good photo (with my mobile camera..) that made it possible to crop it properly, so the wall behind is present in this photo.

I am currently working on some colour field paintings, i.e. abstract paintings where I am just focusing on the colour fields. It is part of a task we have got from the evening course I am attending at Den Tverrfaglige Kunstskolen DTK, an art school close to Oslo. Have look at their webpage: www.kunstskole.com    I have been attending this weekly evening course there the last months and I find it very inspiring. Today is my day off from the office - so, back to painting colour fields!