Palms, 2013, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 16x20

 

 

Abstract art may require using different brain cells than the ones we use for something more representational.  To abstract means "to take away"  Here, I've taken away the essence of some palms blowing in the wind.  I've abstracted them to be less defined, and more colorful than they are in real life. 

 

Abstract art lets me as an artist break away from reality, from the need to have something look exactly as it does in real life.  For you, it allows you to enjoy the color and the shapes, to let your eye move around the piece in any way that suits you, and to add or subtract in your own imagination exactly what a piece is about. 

 

You can look for form, color, line, texture, pattern, composition and process.  These are the accepted principals of art, and you should be able to find evidence of them in a piece of abstract art as well. 

I try to keep a piece of abstract art in the studio at all times.  I believe that creating them makes me a better artist, and that you as the viewer will find something to admire and enjoy.