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WHY ABSTRACT? Issue 2

Painting is one method of expressing ourselves on a flat surface. For me, it is an input of creativity, imagination and as a way to bring emotions of any sort to the forefront.

As true of many abstract artists I tend to let go of an end result and just let the work flow in the direction that speaks to me. If I try to get too technical I will often mess up. I usually start with a limited color palette and try to limit my expectations of a workable outcome.  Painting in an abstract way allows rules to be broken and looks at form in a different perspective. For me, it supplies a freedom of expression as I delve into my inner resources.

There are times where I give the piece a name before I start painting – sometimes that works to move me along the creative path and sometimes it doesn’t. My intent is usually to nudge along a specific feeling by means of pictorial language. Some of my work can be of geometrical design if I feel a need to be organized in my thoughts. It can feel more cerebral and objective with its systematic arrangement. Other works represent a strong emotion that I might feel from a personal experience that has rocked my world. Regardless of the source of my intention, it is always to allow the viewer room to come to their own conclusions and fill in the blanks. One of the joys but also one of the difficulties of painting in an abstract style is that I am driven not by what I see but by what I feel. There is no external information available to devise shape, color, texture or composition. Abstract play can assume a certain amount of freedom but does not benefit from lack of direction. I feel I still need to associate myself with certain limits and restrictions so that I don’t just muddle along.

Some folks look at an abstract art piece and a comment might be “I don’t know what I am looking at” or “this doesn’t represent anything I know.” That is precisely the point about abstract art. The intention is not to represent something in the real sense but to develop a sensitivity inspired by unconventional details.    - Jennifer Farnell

Jennifer Farnell is a member of the Okanagan Art Gallery and the Artists on Main.