Abstracted

At the beginning of the year, Big A surprised me with a painting class that I had been wanting to take! Nikko was offering an abstract oil painting class, and I was on cloud 9! I LOVE abstract, and it has been years since I had dusted off my oil set (I actually had to find it!), and was ready to get the show on the road! I was super pumped that I was going to whip out a TON of paintings in the 7 week course time...

Things didn't go exactly as expected :) Nikko is an amazing teacher, and my class was so much fun. Everyone came from different art backgrounds, and produced their own individual styles. I, however, wasn't able to find my groove as I usually do. I could blame it on baby brain, but I'm sure that it was just that I was out of practice!

As the weeks went on, I produced some pieces here and there that I loved, and actually did really well on the night that Nikko taught us mixed media with acrylic...but that's only because that's what I've been doing lately! Either way, it was a confidence boost to finish the class strong.

Last night was our last class (*sigh* and *light sob*). I actually brought back 2 paintings that I had worked on over the weeks, and probably had at least 3 paintings layered on the canvas! It was a relaxing evening, and I enjoyed the fellowship of my new friends greatly. But the biggest joy was the paintings that appeared at the end of my brush!

After I took this picture, I added a little more detail with graphite, and I think it brought the whole piece together.
This last one is my favorite, and the picture doesn't accurately show the vibrancy of the colors. If you frequent this blog, you know that color is sort of my thing. It's like i toss the whole crayon box on whatever I'm working on! ...I think that was my problem in this class. As I was getting used to the fluidity of the medium, my colors continued to get muddied, and i attemped to layer in the same way that I do with acrylics. I finally had a break through, and really liked the results!!!

I will probably attempt to do a bit more abstract with my acrylics, so I will share my journey as I go!!!