I FIND IT CHALLENGING TO WORK IN A MINIMALIST FASHION. I tend to want to add more and more and more, and before you know it, my “minimalist” project resembles a free expression intuitive style. I say it’s okay. Whatever you are drawn to do, allow it to materialize in your art. It’s hard to force a style. This next exercise employs more restraint than I usually use in my compositions. Unity is created through the repetition of colors and shapes. This is also a great opportunity to use the acrylic skin you created in Chapter 2 as a collage element. The skin also inspired the color palette for this particular diptych.
3-4 fluid acrylic colors: Diarylide Yellow, Permanent Violet Dark, Green Gold (influenced by the colors in the acrylic skin)
Acrylic skin (from previous demonstration)
Brayer
Gessobords
Large flat brush
Scissors
Smaller detail brushes
Soft gel medium
Soft body Titanium White
Water-soluble pencil
Begin by choosing your two predominant colors for each panel. With your first color, brush on wide soft strokes of color mixed with soft body white to fill the background. The white will serve to soften the overall look of your background color.
Begin adding texture using any of the previously mentioned techniques (scraping, scratching, water droplets).
Repeat the process with your second color on the next panel. Fade out your colors by using a brayer. Roll paint onto the bottom (or right and left) of each surface to create a band of white.
Continue building up main colors by using a brayer rather than a brush to create interesting textures and uneven paint layers. Repeat as you see fit with more color.
At this point, audition the surfaces for your orientation of the two panels. You may decide that they fit together differently than you initially thought they would. Don’t be afraid of changing the orientation.
Find a line that emerges between two color transitions and draw or write with the water-soluble pencil (or chalk pencil).
Add a contrasting color of paint right underneath the drawn line, gliding the paint along the edge of it to activate the graphite for a shaded look. If you desire a sense of balance or continuity, repeat a similar step on the second panel. The trick to creating two pieces that tie together starts with the color used for both substrates, but the shapes, rhythm, movement and patterns you infuse between the pieces create cohesion.
Place the two surfaces close to one another and start adding patterns that connect the surfaces. In this example, you will see stamping of circles on the bottom and top of each panel using a lid rim painted in black.
Now that the main colors have been blocked in, it’s time to add details, patterns or marks. Change the values of your main colors by adding white, black or another mixture. This will increase the contrast in the work.
Take the acrylic skin you made in an earlier project, and cut it into two pieces. Decide on a placement that will bind the two panels together.
Adhere the skin to the surface using soft gel medium. Gently push down on the skin, then smooth out the collaged pieces to ensure there are no air bubbles.
Keep working with your surface until you’re satisfied. Sometimes you may have to sit with a painting for a day or two. Sometimes you might not like the initial results. Change the orientation to see it from a variety of perspectives. It’s not uncommon for an abstract to have ten, twenty, thirty or even fifty layers of paint before it’s done!