President's Message - December 2011

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Last Updated on Monday, 12 December 2011 19:50

Dear Fellow Members,

EAFA President Lin La Mer

We have the Abstract Show opening January 7th with an entry deadline of December 2. I decided to try painting an abstract painting to enter, just for fun. I’m sure most of you are aware of my realist style of painting. It's very old world still life painting for the most part, abstract is quite a stretch for me. I thought about a color palette, composition, and size.

How in the world do I execute this? I don’t have a set-up. Nothing physical to look at, only some thumbnail sketches for design ideas. OMG, how do I do this? Yes, I can create new things, things I have never seen. Having a background in mechanical design engineering, I have invented things before. I have always had parameters in which to work. I have books full of rules for materials, processes, and machine capabilities, not to mention the mathematical formulas to make it all work.

Ok, let’s see: I have color theory, composition, shape, line, and form. I will have to make do with these few rules. This is way outside my comfort zone. When it’s all said and done, that is the point. We all need to move outside of our comfort zone if we want to grow.

You don’t have to do anything as drastic as going from realism to abstract, but you can do some warm up exercises to help your creative process. Try painting from memory. Study a photo for five minutes. Don’t cheat and look at the photo; then compare your painting to the photo you studied. They may be quite different, but you will have the big shapes and the feel of the place without focusing on all the detail. Or try attaching a two foot long sick on to a long handled brush, this will keep you out of detail land. Turn a photo upside down and do a painting that way. You will focus on the abstract shapes and not get hung up on the details.

All of these are designed to get you out of your comfort zone and increase your creative flow. And guess what? They are fun to do! Love the paint.

Happy painting,

Lin La Mer
EAFA President