Paintings, Drawings and Photographs by Barbara Field (except where noted otherwise.) New stuff very often.
Friday, May 6, 2011
A River
Here's an abstract painting I painted. In part. Burdened with a mind that best grasps the concrete, I've never known how to approach creating an abstract painting. I like abstract paintings pretty well, although they aren't my very favorites. I've seen some I absolutely loved, but it would be difficult for me to figure out exactly why I love them. I attempted to convince Sam Kitamura to demonstrate his process, but he was bent on making me paint. So we switched off. He laid in some bold lines. I played with water and tentatively dabbed in some color. He painted some more. Then I painted some, adding some final touches with Sam's advice. He told me to sign it. This isn't exactly my signature; it's closer to how I sign checks than paintings. I learned a couple of things. An abstract has structure; well of course it does. It's a thing; it's concrete; it's part of the world. Possibly a wholly new creation. Color changes everything, especially the color it sits next to. I still wouldn't know where to begin.
Before the abstract, I painted the Los Angeles River. The painting is inadvertently abstract, and not very good. The L.A. River is one of a strange city's quirkiest features. It's mostly cement lined, extremely trash filled, and almost always a laughable trickle. But periodically it swells up to thirty feet and rushes to the ocean, taking a life or two on the way. There's an ambitious plan underway to restore the river to a more natural state. Boulders have been added, trees grow, and the water birds are abundant and varied. Last weekend as I painted, a volunteer workforce of hundreds pulled junk out of the river. With the care and persistence of people like those, it will be a real river again some day. Fish and all. My father used to catch crawdads in the Los Angeles River.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
were you concerned about posting your check signature?
ReplyDeletei want to take part in the LA river clean up, not just because they have awesome shirts
Your abstract is lyrical, spirited, and filled with uplifting colors. I see lines and edges derived, no doubt, from the dominant elements of your flowerful photography.
ReplyDeleteI do look forward to seeing more of your works exploring abstract art.
I loved your abstract experiment, the lines so bold speak volumes and the colors very spontaneous.. it does make a statement!
ReplyDelete